The Director of Public Prosecution Renson Ingonga has dropped a Sh71.5 million fraud case against billionaire businessman Parminder Singh Manku and his associate in a construction firm for lack of evidence.

While dropping the criminal charges, the DPP informed Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki that there is no sufficient evidence to sustain the criminal charges against Manku as he were wrongfully prosecuted.

The new development comes after the Ingonga reviewed the evidence afresh and found that the tycoon businessman who has been involved in construction of major road in the country should not have been prosecuted for criminal offences as the charges against Manku were civil in nature.

“ Your honour we urge that you allow our applcation to withdraw the case against the accused person herein under Section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code(CPC) since we does not intend to proceed with the matter. Following a review of the file we found the charges against Manku were civil in nature,” the State prosecutor urged.

As a consequence the Magistrate granted the DPP’s plea to terminate the charges against the businessman who faced three charges of stealing by a company’s director Sh71.5 million from Westalnds based Earth Movers Limited in Nairobi county in December 21,2021

“The matter is withdrawn under Section 87(a) of the CPC and the Sh1 million cash bail be released to the depositor and the passport in case it has been deposited back to the court,” Magistrate Ondieki ordered.

Manku was also accused of stealing, forgery and uttering a false document to a bank claiming that he was the sole director of the company.

He was accused of forging minutes of a board meeting at Lalji Meghi and Company Limited Board on September 10, 2020, purporting to be the sole signatory of the company’s account at Standard Chartered Bank’s Westlands branch. He then presented the forged company resolutions to Standard Chartered Bank’s Westlands branch in Nairobi on October 7, 2020.

 According to documents filed in court, charges were based on a complaint by Pravin Patel Mavji, dse accused persons co-director and shareholder, and business partner in Elite Earth Movers Limited, which business relationship had soured irredeemably at the time of making the complaint.

The complainants told the court that over 40 years, professionally, the accused was a businessman operating in the field of construction contracting where he bid for various construction tenders floated in the Country, and if won, he undertook the construction projects with companies that he owned.

On or around 2018, Manku joined the company Elite Earth Movers Limited, familiarizing himself with its operations and balance sheets; with the intention of subscribing for shares and using the company to further bid for construction tenders, states the court papers.

The court heard that in the earlier parts of 2018, the businesman shown a strong balance sheet for Elite Earth Movers Limited, and also that Elite Earth Movers Limited had assets and good projects including Mulot and Kijauri Road projects, that were underway and which if completed, could raise good money for Elite Earth Movers Limited.