By TONY KAGO

The jailed tycoon brothers bid for freedom flopped yesterday when their appeal was thrown out on a technicality.

Mr Justice Samuel Oguk threw out an application for bail pending appeal lodged by Raju and Tony Sanghani.

Lawyers for the two and for their manager David Mang'ale, he said, had been caught flat-footed by the law as they had not followed the right procedure.

The judge upheld a preliminary objection by State counsel Edwin Okello who had argued the application was incompetent.

He had argued that the High Court could not entertain an application that had been made and rejected by the lower court.

Mr Okello argued they should have contested Kiambu Senior Principal Magistrate Jane Ondieki's rejection of their bid to be granted bail pending appeal.

Mr Joseph Wagara for the two brothers and Mr Odhiambo Adala for Mr Mang'ale had maintained the application was properly in court and that the judge had powers to hear the appeal.

However their main appeal contesting the conviction and the sentence is still pending.

Mr Raju was jailed for three month and his brother for five months, both for incitement, while Mr Mang'ale was jailed for five years for assault.

They started serving their terms at Kamiti Maximum Prison last week.

The two brothers set guards on two men and had them beaten unconscious and dumped in the bush. 

Raju – full name Rajendra Ratilal Sanghani – is former owner of Guilders International Bank, the chairman of Real Motors Group and an estate management firm. 

The court heard of the ruthlessness with which they ordered an attack on two men sent by a solicitor to list all the goods in Raju's godown, off Mombasa Road, Nairobi, prior to his eviction.