Relief for Mwendwa as court closes file seeking his arrest

FKF President Nick Mwendwa and CEO Barry Otieno outside The Goal Project, Kasarani, after they were locked out on November 11, 2021. [Kelly Ayodi, Standard]

Embattled Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa is a free man, at least for now.

Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Wandia Nyamu yesterday ordered the closure of a file in which the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) sought to detain Mwendwa for 14 days to complete investigations into allegations of questionable use of millions at the federation.

“The prosecution has confirmed that they have no charges preferred against the suspect and as a result, the file will be marked as closed. The court also orders that the suspect be refunded the Sh4 million cash bail he deposited for his release,” ruled Nyamu.

However, Mwendwa’s release could be short-lived since the magistrate did not stop the DCI from continuing with investigations or the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) from charging him.

The magistrate had last week declined to order for Mwendwa’s detention and gave the prosecution seven days to charge him. However, since there were no preferred charges within the seven days, his lawyers asked the court to close the file.

Mwendwa was arrested and taken to court on Monday last week, a few days after Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed disbanded the federation and appointed a caretaker committee to run football affairs for six months.

The prosecution had applied to have him detained for two weeks to allow investigations into the suspected fraudulent acquisition of public property.

According to the prosecution, Mwendwa was being investigated for allegedly transferring Sh8.5 million from the FKF account to his personal accounts and authorising fictitious withdrawal of Sh29.5 million from the federation’s account.