A former Cabinet Minister on Friday appeared before the Voi law courts and denied giving false information to police.

Former Lands minister and Voi MP Eliud Mwamunga appeared before Voi senior principal magistrate Samuel Wahome and was released on a Sh1 million bond.

Mwamunga is accused of falsely claiming that his cousin, Wilmot Mwadilo and a third person, conspired to defraud Sagalla Ranch in Voi of Sh105 million.

Mwadilo was represented by lawyer Gikandi Ngibuini of Gikandi advocates. Gikandi asked for serious bail terms against Mwamunga, saying the allegations are serious.

Mwamunga's lawyer Onesmus Mwinzi said the court should be lenient on him. Wahome ruled that the court grants a bond against the former minister.

"Charges against the accused are serious.The basis of granting bail is basically the likelihood of the accused turning up to court for trial.I doubt that the accused can abscond because of his status and proprietary interests in the jurisdiction of the court.

Since he is presumed innocent until proved guilty and considering his age, the court grants the accused a personal bond of shillings one million," ruled Wahome.

Wahome slated the next hearing of the case for September 23 this year and ordered the prosecution to supply the defence with all witness statements and all necessary reports.

Mwadilo applied for a private prosecution after his complaint at Voi police station to have Mwamunga charged with giving false information against him was not acted upon.

Through his lawyer, Mwadilo told the magistrate that before raising the complaints against Mwamunga, directors of Sagalla Ranch Company in Voi where the former minister is chairman had agreed to sell a portion of the ranch.

Mwadilo said that after agreeing to sell the property, two companies signed a separate agreement to purchase 21,000 acres of the ranch.