Nairobi Court Acquits Tycoon Ezra In False Pretence Case

gandan tycoon Micheal Ezra Muloowa has been cleared by a Nairobi court in a case where he was accused of obtaining goods falsely and issuing a bouncing cheque for KSh1.6 million.

Micheal Ezra

Micheal Ezra was acquitted on a charge of allegedly obtaining 650 grammes of Chinese herbal medicine valued at Sh1.6 million.
This was the second time Mr Ezra was being acquitted on charges of issuing bouncing cheques.
Makadara Senior Principal Magistrate Timothy Okelo, on Thursday said that the prosecution had failed to prove through three witnesses it presented that the businessman had committed the two offences.
“The prosecution case is full of gaps and I therefore find that the prosecution has failed to prove a case beyond reasonable doubt,” the magistrate said.
He subsequently acquitted Ezra on the two counts of charges.
The magistrate said that the complainant in the case, Dr Pan Liaxue, Chinese dealing in herbal Chinese medicine had told the court that she could not remember the date she gave the 650 grammes of medicine to the businessman in Westlands Nairobi.
The complainant had also not produced any evidence of importation of the herbal medicine.
“This court is left asking whether there was any transaction at all involving the herbal medicine or whether there was any treatment offered to the accused,” said the magistrate.
He added that there was no evidence showing that there were any services being paid for by the businessman.
Furthermore, the complainant did not mention the amount of Sh1.6 million stated in the charge sheet while testifying.
On the allegation of the businessman issuing a bouncing cheque to the Chinese Doctor, the magistrate said the document examiner had failed to conduct conclusive investigations to confirm that the signature and the handwriting in the document were Ezra’s.
He questioned why the document examiner did not take a specimen of Ezra’s handwriting and compare it to the writings on the cheque.
The businessman has so far won two cases out of the three which had been instituted against him all based on issuance of bouncing cheques.
Two months ago, the prosecution substituted charges in the case which is still pending and applied to have the businessman remanded in custody but the magistrate declined and ordered that Mr Mulyoowa be released on the initial bail terms of KSh3million.
Mr Ezra was first arraigned in court in February 2011 accused of issuing bad cheques.
Agencies