A Kenyan businessman has been charged over allegations that he made and submitted fraudulent company documents to facilitate the resignation of a director and the transfer of 4,000 shares in Channa Investments Limited.
Mandeep Singh Channa was arraigned before a Kenyan court and faced multiple charges relating to alleged forged affidavits, company board minutes, a resignation letter and share-transfer documents.
Channa denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The court subsequently released him on a KSh300,000 cash bail as the case proceeds.
Alleged Documents Used to Remove Director
According to the charge sheet, Channa is accused of making a false affidavit dated October 19, 2022, allegedly purporting it to be a genuine affidavit sworn by Supinderpaul Singh before Esther Asati, an advocate and Commissioner for Oaths.
The prosecution alleges that Channa, together with others who have not been brought before the court, knew that the document was false.
He is further accused of uttering the alleged false affidavit on October 25, 2022, by submitting it through his eCitizen account on the Business Registration Service (BRS) system.
Prosecutors allege that the document was submitted to support the purported resignation of Supinderpaul Singh as a director of Channa Investments Limited.
Board Minutes Among Documents in Case
Channa also faces allegations relating to company board minutes dated October 19, 2022.
The prosecution claims the minutes were falsely made and purported to represent genuine minutes of a duly convened board meeting of Channa Investments Limited.
He is accused of subsequently submitting the alleged false minutes through his eCitizen account on the BRS system on October 25, 2022, allegedly to support the purported resignation.
The charges have been brought under provisions of the Penal Code relating to making and uttering false documents.
Resignation Letter Forms Part of Charges
The businessman is also accused of making a resignation letter dated October 19, 2022, which the prosecution claims falsely purported to have been executed and signed by Supinderpaul Singh.
According to the charge sheet, Channa allegedly submitted the letter through his eCitizen account on the BRS system on October 25, 2022, knowing it to be false.
The prosecution alleges that the documents were subsequently used in company records to facilitate the purported resignation.
Case Also Involves 4,000 Shares
A separate part of the case concerns the alleged transfer of 4,000 ordinary shares in Channa Investments Limited from Supinderpaul Singh to Mandeep Singh Channa.
The prosecution alleges that Channa made a false share-transfer document dated July 3, 2023, purporting it to be a genuine document transferring the shares to him.
He is further accused of uttering the alleged false document on July 25, 2023, by submitting it through his eCitizen account on the BRS system.
Channa also faces an allegation involving an affidavit dated July 25, 2023. Prosecutors claim the affidavit was falsely made to appear as though it had been sworn by Supinderpaul Singh before Esther Asati.
The alleged affidavit was subsequently submitted through Channa's eCitizen account on the BRS system and was purportedly used to support the transfer of the 4,000 shares.
Channa has denied all the allegations and pleaded not guilty.
The court granted him KSh300,000 cash bail, and the matter will now proceed through the judicial process. The prosecution will be required to prove the charges against him to the required legal standard.
