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Court to rule on release of suspected Dusit attack financier


A magistrate court will on Wednesday rule whether to release on bond a man accused of sending monies to terrorists who staged the attack on Dusit complex.

Mohammed Abdi Ali was charged with seven counts of providing property for the commission of a terrorist attack.

He was arrested on April 19 and has since been in police custody.

Despite pleas from his lawyer and family that he be released on bond, the prosecution wants him detained further.

Senior Resident Magistrate Muthoni Nzibe will make the ruling.

The court heard that on several occasions the accused used various mobile phone numbers registered under the name of Mohammed Ali or Issack Abdi Ali to send monies to one Ali Salim Gichunge alias Erik Kinyanjui Muny, the main attacker.

Court was told that the monies were being sent via M-Pesa to the said person who has been described as a member of terror group Al-Shabaab.

SENT MONIES

The accused sent monies amounting to about Sh 500,000 from Soko Mbuzi area in Mandera County, severally.

“The accused person facilitated the commission of a terrorist act by knowingly sending the monies,” prosecution told court.

Mr Gichunge was killed by Kenyan security forces who responded to the Dusit terror attack. His wife Violet Omwoyo Kemunto is at large.

Out of the 184 suspects arrested soon after the attack, 95 have been processed and released.

One of the main suspects of the attack who was arrested, detained and charged include Hassan Abdi Nur, who is accused of using his M-Pesa business to transact monies from South Africa and sending it to Somalia for alleged terror activities.

He allegedly withdrew huge amounts of cash at Diamond Trust bank, Eastleigh branch using 47 Mpesa registered accounts. He allegedly withdrew a total of Sh 37,555,000 between August 2018 and January.

Out of this amount, Sh 35,145,000 was withdrawn between December 2018 and early January alone.