By Linah Benyawa

A prime suspect linked with the theft of millions of shillings from a security firm was yesterday charged with the offence.

Jacob Mutuku Musau, was yesterday charged with stealing Sh313,394,700 million from the G4S Security Company.

He is alleged to have committed the offence on February 12, this year, at Barclays bank Nkrumah Road, Mombasa.

Musau also faced another charge of handling stolen property.

He is alleged to have obtained Sh17 million believed to have been stolen.

He allegedly committed the offence on February 26 at Capital Hill Apartments in Kitengela, Kajiado District.

He, however, denied the charges before Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Lilian Mutende.

Musau was remanded in police custody for three days after the prosecution successfully asked the court to have him placed in police custody to facilitate further investigations.

The prosecution had asked court to detain the suspect at Central Police Station for five days, arguing investigations were under way and the accused could assist police in the recovery of some items.

"We would like to ask the court to have the accused be remanded at Central Police Station for five days so that he would help with investigations and in the recovery of other important items," said Inspector Harun Ndubi.

Remanded

Defence Counsel Christine Kipsang opposed his application, saying the offence was bailable and therefore remanding the accused in custody would be denying him his constitutional rights.

She further told court the prosecution had enough time to conduct investigations before arraigning the accused in court.

"The investigation officer was through with investigations, that is why the accused was brought to court to face the charges," said Mrs Kipsang.

But the prosecution said the accused was arrested while on the run and if released on bail, he was likely to interfere with investigations.

Ms Mutende granted the prosecution’s application and ordered for the accused to be remanded for three days.

"Due to the nature of the offence, I will give the Investigation Officer three days to complete the investigations," said Mutende.

The case will be mentioned on March 5.