A current MP and a former legislator are among a group of farmers who lost over Ksh 500,000 to a lawyer.
The account holds money contributed by miraa farmers and was meant to meet the cost of a suit against the UK government for banning their produce.
It emerged that the lawyer, Henry Kurauka, who was involved in the lawsuit, recently obtained a court order to withdraw more than Ksh 536,904 from the account without the approval of three other signatories.
Signatories for the account include former Igembe North MP Joseph M’Eruaki, Igembe Central MP Kubai Iringo, Nabea Murianki and Jesse Muambi.
The account originally had a total of Ksh1.7 million after Ksh 7 million was paid to Dass Solicitors in London and Ksh 600,000 was deposited into their local representative, Kurauka's account.
In 2013, the farmers had been forced to contribute Ksh 500 each, after an order by Meru elders (Njuri Ncheke).
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, also contributed Ksh5 million while the County Government of Meru raised Ksh2 million.
The rest of the money was contributed by leaders during a funds drive at Maili Tatu grounds.
The signatories of the account, dubbed the Miraa Fund, have now threatened to sue their lawyer and the bank, for the missing funds.
A court order signed by Nairobi High Court Deputy Registrar L.A. Mumassaba, in which Kurauka and Co Advocates has sued Kenya Miraa Farmers and Traders Association (Kemifata), directed the bank’s branch manager to issue a bankers cheque for Ksh 536,904 to the law firm.
In his defence, Karauka stated that the initial agreement was that he would be paid Ksh2 million but only got Ksh 600,000 as down payment.
The lawyer also claimed that he was the one doing 80 per cent of the work, but the signatories refused to release the balance to him, thus prompting him to look for the court order.
