A court in Nairobi has rejected a bid by a renowned businessman seeking for the release of Sh2 billion alleged fake dollars.
Mr Erick Adede who was arrested in March this year had moved to the Constitutional Review Court seeking to have the money surrendered to the court.
According to him, the money that was seized from a safe box in Barclays Bank was genuine, adding that DCI and DPP want to tamper with it.
But Justice John Mativo has dismissed his application insisting that it lacked merit.
“Mr Adede has not demonstrated that there was no factual basis to justify the seizure of the exhibits. There is nothing to show that the exhibits do not form part of the prosecution evidence,” stated the judge.
The judge further observed that it was not the function of the judicial review to weigh the veracity of the evidence or to assess which exhibits were relevant to the prosecution case.
“That would amount to this court descending into the arena of the trial court,” said the judge.
Mr Adede faced another count of having USD20 million in fake dollars. He is out on Sh1 million cash bail while his co-accused secured freedom after depositing Sh200,000 each with the court.
Investigations done by the DCI show that the money was counterfeit of US dollars, a claim which Adede disputes.