The United States prosecutors have charged afresh the infamous Kenyan Akasha brothers of bribing Kenyan officials and brandishing guns while carrying out their alleged crimes.
The new allegations came to the fore last month and they were cited when they appeared at a US Federal Court on Friday.
Baktash and Ibrahim Akasha, have been in custody in New York for the past year for drug trafficking charges.
The Akasha’s together with a Pakistani national Gulam Hussein are facing drug trafficking charges in the US.
The three going by an indictment filed last month, reports Daily Nation “agreed to pay bribes, and caused others to pay bribes to officials, including law enforcement officers, judges and at least one prosecutor in Kenya, in an effort to avoid extradition to the United States.”
Lead prosecutor in the case Amanda Houle also told Presiding Judge Victor Marrero that “During and in relation to [alleged] drug-trafficking crimes, they did use and carry firearms, which were brandished.”
They pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecutor said her team has no further discussions with the defendants’ legal team for a possible plea deal.
Houle was implying that efforts to have the three plead guilty to the charges and in turn get a reduced sentence hit a snag.
However, for Vijaygiri Goswami-an Indian national charged for the same together with the Akasha’s and Pakistani national, was not in the courtroom at the time because he took a deal with prosecution team and promised to cooperate.
Pressed to comment on this issue, Houle said that “[She] is not going to confirm or deny anything about anyone cooperating in this case.”
The case is set to begin from October 8. It may run for about three weeks.
Christopher Cassar, an attorney representing Baktash Akasha told the court in the Friday session that he has not received any documents from Kenyan government proving that his client was “expelled” from the country early January last year.
He argued that Baktash was flown from Nairobi to New York before an extradition hearing was concluded.
The other three suspects, Ibrahim, Goswami and Hussein were flown from Nairobi to New York together, after Baktash was flown out.
The four suspects were arrested in 2014 in a sting operation that involved undercover US drug agents.
They were later charged with conspiracy to ship 98 kilogrammes of heroin to the US from Kenya.
Cassar said the terms of the extradition of his client between the US and Kenya were violated thus, he will be pushing for his return to Kenya.
“I don’t believe you can expel a citizen from his country,” said the defense attorney as further quoted by Daily Nation.
The presiding judge is likely to rule on that motion in April or May.
A hearing session on the status of the case is scheduled to be held on February 23.