A Nairobi court will today rule whether it will vacate the orders that froze over 20 bank accounts of Pastor Ezekiel Odero that are linked with money laundering offences.
Milimani Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhupi will rule on the case. On Thursday, Odero wanted the court to unfreeze his accounts and allow him to access his funds.
Through lawyers Danstan Omari, Cliff Ombeta and Samson Nyaberi, he said the DCI obtained the orders to freeze his account fraudulently by not disclosing to the court that they had filed a similar application in various courts including Shanzu law court and there is another matter before Mombasa High court.
The lawyers argued that it was embarrassing for the Nairobi court to issue orders to freeze Ezekiel Odero’s bank accounts while the matter was still pending before a superior court.
Ombeta submitted that the mischievous conduct of the state of moving from one court to another in an attempt to obtain orders to frustrate pastor Ezekiel is a misuse of the judicial process.
“The move to freeze account will frustrate the operations of the church and the school which has 3,000 employees and some are paid daily”, Ombeta told the court.
He said the school needs funds to feed over 300 students and pay employees.
Ombeta said the allegations by the state which they used to obtain the orders saying there were human body parts sold and money channelled to Odero’s account is a state scheme to get orders but no such thing exists.
They said the conduct of the DCI has embarrassed the judiciary and the ODPP for not disclosing material facts to the court.
They urged the court to set aside the orders obtained fraudulently.
The state however said they moved to court to secure the orders since the source of funds of Pastor Ezekiel was questionable.
The prosecution urged the court to uphold its decision to freeze those accounts to allow police complete investigations into the issue in question.
