A notorious Indian conman Prakash Shah was on Tuesday arraigned before Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s court charged with obtaining more than 1.7bn/- fraudulently.The prosecution told the court that between July and November 2007 within Dar es Salaam, Prakash Shah, 50, a businessman residing at Mikocheni B with intent to defraud obtained over 1.7bn/- (792,000 Euros) from Yort Copper Crafters Limited of India after lying that he could supply 200 tonnes of copper.
Shah pleaded “not guilty” before Principal Resident Magistrate, Mr Evlyn Mugeta.
The case was adjourned to Thursday, for bail consideration. The accused was, however, remanded.
Before adjourning the case, Magistrate Mugeta over ruled the prosecution’s objection to admit the accused to bail.
He, however, gave several conditions to the accused including surrendering all his travel documents to the police and present two reliable sureties.
Mr Mugeta also ordered the accused to pay half of the alleged defrauded money or submit an unmovable property of the same value, is not allowed to travel out of Dar es Salaam without express permission of the court and has to report to the police fortnightly.
State Attorney Elizabeth Kaganda had earlier objected bail to Shah saying he was a conman and evaded police since 2007. She said the accused was likely to jump bail because he is not a Tanzanian.
She added that the prosecution had an affidavit from the Regional Crime Office (RCO) explaining the reasons for denying Shah bail which will be submitted to the court as soon as possible.
However, the defence contested the submission by the prosecution, saying the law on bail applied equally to all accused irrespective of their nationality.
”My client being denied bail because of his Indian nationality is completely against the law. The claim that he has been evading police since 2007 does not hold water.
“The police have never managed to bring clear proof of those allegations,” a defence lawyer told the court.
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