Lawyer charged with swindling trader of Sh29 million in land deal

A Mombasa lawyer has been charged with swindling a businessman of Sh29 million in a botched land deal.

A witness said lawyer Dennis Mabea received payment for 2.5 acres in Shanzu but declined to refund the money even after the landowner disowned the deal.

George Odull, a partner with Shachdeva Magnani law firm, told Mombasa Chief Magistrate Julius Nangea that Mr Mabea received the money from their firm and declined to refund it even after he was informed by the plot owner that the land in question was not for sale.

“I visited his office several times to ask him to return the money after the deal went sour but he sent back only Sh3.5 million,” said Mr Odull.

Lawyers Mabea, Abdalla Ali Ganga and Didacas Atambo have denied that on March 7, 2014, with intent to defraud, they obtained Sh29 million from Tobias Otieno for the sale of 2.5 acres in Shanzu.

The accused are being represented by Paul Butti and Jared Magolo while the prosecution is being led Lydia Kagori.

Sale agreement

Odull told the court that before incident, Shachdver Magnani was approached by Mr Otieno to help him with the land transaction. The witness said after getting the money from Otieno, they asked Mabea to prepare a sale agreement, which they later sent by email.

“When we received a copy of the sale agreement drawn by Mabea, we detected that there were some very important things missing. We redrew it and sent it back to them,” said Odull.

Odull said after Mabea received the redrafted sale agreement copy by email, he confirmed that his client, Abdalla Ali Ganga, had accepted it.

He said since he had visited the land office, Mabea told them to wire the money to his bank account.

Received email

Odull said when the money had been wired, Mabea sent an email saying his client was not part of the land sale agreement in question. On receiving the email, he asked for a refund immediately.

Mabea later gave a professional undertaking to refund the money within 30 days.

The witness said the lawyer first refunded Sh3.5 million and promised to clear the balance in three months.

The hearing continues.