The Sh1.8bn Land saga.
The High Court in Mombasa is set to deliver its ruling on a matter where the National Land Commission (NLC) had been ordered to recover Ksh1.8 billion that was illegally paid to Mombasa businessman Mohammed Jaffar.
The illegal payout was made to a company associated with the Mombasa tycoon, Miritini Free Port.
Mombasa Resident Judge Olga Sewe has formerly failed to deliver the ruling, citing various reasons. In March this year, when the matter came up for ruling, Justice Sewe informed the parties that she was once again unable to render her judgment, stating that her court was sitting in Kwale and she had forgotten to carry the file to Kwale to have her ruling read.
In May, she informed the parties that she was unable to deliver the ruling since she had been assigned to sit on a three-judge bench matter.
Additionally, in June, Justice Sewe informed the parties that the ruling was not ready since she had been away on official duties in Nairobi.
This marks the fifth time the court has failed to deliver the judgment.
In the matter, Miritini Free Port is seeking orders to set aside earlier directives issued by then Mombasa High Court Judge Erick Ogolla, who had ordered the money illegally paid out by the National Land Commission (NLC) to be refunded, on grounds that it had been unlawfully disbursed to the company.
However, in a spirited fight, four petitioners, through lawyer Gikandi Ngubuini, have asked the court to freeze the money paid to Jaffar until the petition is heard and determined.
The money in dispute was illegally paid to Miritini Free Port, instead of being awarded to the needy petitioners who informed the court that they are the rightful owners of the land.
They had been resettled in the area by the government, having been relocated from Bombolulu to make way for the construction of a children’s home.
In 2021, Justice Ogolla, in his judgment, stated that the firm allowed itself to receive compensation from taxpayers’ money for land that had been acquired by the NLC through fraudulent means.
The judge faulted the NLC’s approval of the compensation award, despite having full knowledge that the land belonged to squatters and that the firm had illegally acquired it.
“NLC was used by the owner of the firm to facilitate the illegal payments. The court cannot allow this kind of corruption, where individuals bribe their way to obtain taxpayers’ money at the expense of genuine, needy Kenyans,” Justice Ogolla ruled.
The constitutional review petition was filed by Miritini Free Port against Theresia Runji, Marieta Gitonga, Naomi Kiio, and Sammy Kara, as well as the NLC.
The matter is set to be mentioned on September 26 for further directions. This much-awaited ruling has been pending before the High Court for the sixth time.
Whenever the matter comes up, the resident judge is either away or busy handling other official duties. Justice Sewe is expected to issue her ruling after several failed attempts to do so, delaying the case against Mombasa tycoon Mohammed Jaffar, who illegally pocketed Ksh1.8 billion in SGR compensation.
Defrauding Atta Kenya Ltd Sh730million.
The case of tycoon Mohammed Jaffer and his company Grain Bulk Handlers Limited recently made headlines for defrauding an importer Sh730 million.
According to the court documents, Atta Kenya Limited demanded the amount from GBHL for selling its 13,000 metric tonnes of wheat that was being stored at the silos in Mombasa.
The importer claimed that between 2013 and 2014, it entered into various contracts with Louis Dreyfus Company Limited to purchase 38,500 metric tonnes of milling wheat, out of which 29,500 metric tonnes were shipped into Kenya through two vessels, Kiran Marmara and Clippers Bliss.
However, Atta Kenya fell into arrears of the contractual storage charges payable to GBHL and statutory customs charges paid to KpleRA after its bank failed to honour its financing obligation.
The company said it applied for a waiver of custom warehouse arrears, which was waived to 30% of the accrued rent. Atta also engaged Grain Bulk intending to be allowed to organize an alternative financing of the storage charges.
However, despite the pending engagement, Grain Bulk engaged its lawyer and Beyond Auctioneers with a view of recovering the storage charges through auctioning. Beyond Auctioneers placed a gazette notice claiming it would sell some of the 13,196 metric tonnes of assorted wheat.
On June 17, 2017, Beyond Auctioneers placed a notice on a newspaper inviting bids for the sale of the 13,196 metric tonnes. The auction was purportedly held on June 17, 2017, where Grain Industries emerged as a winner. After the purported auction, LDCI, the company that sold wheat to Atta Kenya, moved to court to stop the sale of some 6,964 metric tonnes of wheat, saying Atta Kenya had not paid USD 2,263,759.
Atta Kenya objected, saying it paid the full amount for the purchase of wheat from LDCI and other incurred charges by Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Ports Authority, and purchase of custom bags and custom warehouse charges.
However, during the pendency of the suit, Atta Kenya received yet another letter from Grain Bulk’s lawyer, saying the wheat had been sold to Grain Industries for Sh217,475,252.
Despite the letter being dated July 3, 2017, Atta Kenya said they came to know about the existence of the letter in early September of that year. From the purported auction, the wheat was sold at only Sh217,475,251. Atta Kenya was paid only Sh28,492,951 after Grain Bulk subtracted the storage charges and other various charges that had accrued.
“The plaintiff avers that it is entitled to the sum of Sh730,292,207 together with interest and lost profits,” Atta Kenya told the court. While testifying in Grain Bulk Handler legal officer Joseph Mwela was at pains to explain why the company was in a rush to auction the wheat, despite undertaking from Atta Kenya to settle the accrued storage charges.
Atta Kenya’s lawyer Miller Bwire, while cross-examining Grain Bulk Handlers’ Mwela, questioned the relationship of shareholders of Grain Bulk Handlers and Grain Industries Limited.
They were appearing before Mombasa High Court Judge Florence Macharia. “In the company registration forms of both Grain Bulk and Grain Industries, some names of the shareholders appear in both documents, are you able to explain,” Bwire questioned Mwela.
He also questioned why some 18 trucks belonging to Grain Industries were loaded with wheat from Grain Bulk premises before the purported day of the auction. Mwela defended the company, saying Grain Industries are also their clients, who import grains through Grain Bulk Handlers. Two witnesses of Grain Bulk Handlers also struggled to explain how the company arrived at the figure of Sh200 million for the wheat consignment.
A clear picture that was painted in court was Grain bulk handlers under the chairmanship of Mohammed Jaffer with a scheme to defraud Atta Kenya Ltd registered another company called Grain Industries selling the importer wheat at a away price to its own company.
Mohammed Jaffer is the owner of Progas Kenya, proto-energy. He is who Jayesh Saini is in the Ministry of health in Gas industry. Monopoly and bulldozing.
KenyanHour 