Kimilili MP Didmus Baraza who was arrested on Tuesday and dragged to court was released on a cash bail of shs 100,000.
The MP was taken to a Kajiado Court and pleaded not guilty to fraudulently selling a car worth Sh450,000 in Kitengela in 2017.
A week ago, media reports said the MP sought to stop his arrest over a public service vehicle he sold to a businessman four years ago.
Through octogenarian Lawyer John Khaminwa, Barasa said he sold the matatu to Irungu Mwangi through an agent, but the businessman broke their sale agreement leading to the current standoff
Khaminwa asked the Court to grant him anticipatory bail ahead of his looming arrest.
“Irungu, being in breach of the agreement, has chosen to make unwarranted allegations against the MP, seeking to extort from him a colossal sum of money under the guise of compensation for a nonexistent breach of the sale agreement to purchase the vehicle,” Khaminwa told the Court.
The MP accused Irungu of using officers under the control of the Inspector General of Police to harass him under the guise of criminal investigations.
The MP said he owned and operated three matatus on Kitengela routes.
“Since I had taken a loan with Rafiki Micro Finance Ltd with the vehicle as security and I still had an outstanding balance of about Sh187,000, I instructed to tell him that I was selling the vehicle for Sh700,000 and that 500,000 should be deposited in my account and the balance of Sh200,000 be paid directly to Rafiki Micro Finance to enable it to release the logbook,” Barasa said in court documents.
He adds that Irungu did not deposit the Sh200,000 to Rafiki as agreed and instead chose to continue paying the loan in installments.
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