A Mombasa court has issued a warrant of arrest against businessman Joginder Singh Dhanjal over allegations that he defrauded a company linked to his family of land valued at Sh400 million.
The court issued the warrant after the prosecution told the magistrate that Joginder had been served with summons on several occasions but had deliberately failed to honour them.
“In the circumstances, I pray for a warrant of arrest against Joginder so that he can be compelled to appear in court,” the prosecution submitted.
Joginder’s siblings, who are listed as the complainants in the case, urged the court to act decisively to ensure that justice is not delayed.
“He has been dodging this court numerous times. Mr Joginder should work on the court’s terms and not the vice versa,” they said through their advocate.
The court, which had earlier granted Joginder’s advocate sufficient time to produce him in court, proceeded to issue the warrant as requested by the prosecution.
According to the charge sheet prepared and approved by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Joginder faces two counts of conspiracy to defraud contrary to Section 317 of the Penal Code and obtaining registration by false pretences.
In the first count, the State alleges that between May 19 and July 8, 2019, at an unknown location within the country, Joginder, jointly with others not before the court and with intent to defraud, conspired by deceit to defraud M/S Jaypee and Sons Limited of eight parcels of land situated within Mombasa Township valued at Sh400 million.
The prosecution claims that he fraudulently procured subdivisions and registrations of more than 15 parallel title numbers, falsely presenting them as genuine and valid subdivisions and titles of the said land.
In the second count, Joginder is accused of obtaining registration by false pretences. The State alleges that on similar dates, he, together with others not before the court and with intent to defraud, wilfully procured subdivisions and registrations of more than 15 parallel titles under the Land Registration Act by falsely presenting himself as the sole director of M/S Jaypee and Sons Limited and purporting the titles to be genuine and valid company property.
Court records show that Joginder had moved to the High Court seeking to halt his prosecution, blaming his absence from court on his former advocates and medical treatment abroad.
In an urgent application filed on January 27, 2026, Joginder asked the High Court to reinstate interim orders that had stayed the criminal proceedings before the magistrate’s court.
The stay orders had been granted on September 4, 2025, but he said they were discharged on November 25, 2025, after his then advocates failed to attend court.
Joginder told the court that he was never informed of his lawyers’ non-attendance or the discharge of the stay orders. He said that at the time, he was in India undergoing medical treatment, having travelled on November 5, 2025 and returned to Kenya on January 6, 2026.
He further argued that the trial court discharged the stay orders without considering his reasons for non- attendance, thereby prejudicing him. He added that his attempts to reach his former advocates after returning to Kenya were unsuccessful, prompting him to instruct new counsel to take over the matter.
In his supporting affidavit, Joginder claimed that the criminal case was being used as a tool of intimidation in an ongoing family dispute over the estate of the late Jaswant Singh Dhanjal Boor Singh.
“The interested parties who are my adversaries in the succession proceedings are using the criminal courts as a tool of intimidation and harassment intended to negatively influence the ongoing civil case,” he said in his court documents.
He told the court that he is a court-appointed administrator of the estate and that the criminal charges were initiated by his siblings after he demanded accountability from previous administrators.
“After my appointment as an administrator, the previous administrators were put to task to explain and account for the estate for their actions, which they were hard pressed to do. This has occasioned underhand tactics aimed at derailing the civil proceedings,” he said.
Joginder expressed apprehension that he would be compelled to take a plea before the magistrate’s court while his judicial review application challenging the prosecution remains pending before the High Court, where it is scheduled for hearing by way of written submissions on March 24, 2026.
It was after the stay orders lapsed and summons were issued requiring him to take a plea that the prosecution moved the lower court to seek a warrant of arrest, citing his continued failure to honour court summons.
