A digital forensic analyst was at pains to explain discrepancies in his report over the retrieval of data from laptops and a mobile phone in a case where five people have been charged with conspiracy to defraud the late Mombasa tycoon Tahir Sheikh Said, popularly known as TSS, of Sh8.7 billion.
Chief Inspector John Mutinda of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Cybercrime Unit had at one point told the court that he received two laptops and a mobile phone in 2016 before saying he received the phone in 2018.
Mr Mutinda, currently seconded to the Kenya Revenue Authority, was testifying before Mombasa Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku in the case in which the accused are James Mwangi, Aweys Ahmed, Zein Ahmed, Zahir Abbas, and Victor Were.
The laptops belong to two of the suspects, while the mobile phone belongs to a witness expected to give evidence in the course of the trial.
Mr Mutinda, who was being cross-examined by defence lawyer Salim Ghalia, was also questioned on how he wrote his report on the analysis of the items in 2018, yet he extracted data from the phone in 2020.
The witness told the court that upon receiving the mobile phone, he did not do anything on it until October 20, 2020, when he retrieved the data.
Mr Mutinda, who described the mixing up of dates as typos, told the court that he was instructed to check on the phone audio clips for April.
“I was instructed to look at the month of April, there were no audio clips traced,” he said.
He told the court that he did not manage to get any data from one of the laptops because of what he described as a password.
The witness also told the court that in 2021, he “reburnt” the compact discs, which he had stored information he had extracted.
However, upon re-examination by prosecutor Alex Ndiema, the witness clarified that he received laptops in 2016 and the mobile phone in 2018, and extracted information from the phone in 2020.
Mr Mutinda also explained that he reburned the CDs to convert them (to enable easy access to information) and that he did not add any information.
Senior Superintendent of police John Muinde, a forensic document examiner based at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi, told the court that on May 17, 2016, the forensic document laboratory received some exhibits, which were specimens, known and questioned signatures for analysis.
Mr Muinde told the court he did a forensic analysis of the signatures and that he did not find any similarities between known and questioned signatures as they were made by different authors.
On Monday, the son of the late TSS had denied appending his signature on a deed of guarantee by TSS Fish Processing Limited, where he is a director, to facilitate the issuance of a loan by a bank.
Mr Said Tahir further told the court that he did not consent to any of the company’s property to be used as security for the loan.
Mr Tahir, who was being led in his evidence by prosecutor Ndiema, told the court that on February 13, 2017, he received a report that there was a document recovered by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation officers which had his name and signature.
The witness also told the court that he went to the DCI offices, where he was shown a deed of guarantee and indemnity by TSS Fish Processing Ltd, and upon further examination, he found that the signature was not his.
According to the prosecution, the accused, jointly with others not before court, conspired to defraud the late TSS of the money.
The court heard that the accused conspired to defraud the deceased by filing false share transfer and change of directorship of TSS Group of companies with the Registrar of Companies by pretending that he (deceased) had voluntarily released his shares to Isha Said.
The offence is alleged to have been committed on diverse dates between February 8, 2011, and October 29, 2015, at TSS Grain Millers in Mombasa.
The accused were also charged with forging a deed of guarantee and indemnity purporting it to be genuinely made by the late tycoon to enable them to secure a bank loan of Sh1.5 billion, the property of Kenya Commercial Bank.
The accused also faces six other counts of forgery.
Mr Mwangi and Mr Aweys Mohamed have been charged with stealing valuation reports, a certificate of lease, a PIN certificate, and a feasibility study booklet belonging to the deceased.
The two were also charged with an alternative count of handling stolen goods. Hearing continues.
