Appeals court delivers win to Dubai firm seeking to freeze Anne Amadi's bank accounts
The Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Anne Amadi, speaks outside Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi on August 29, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Ms Amadi, alongside her son Brian Ochieng, two other Kenyans and a Liberian citizen have been sued by Bruton Gold Trading LLC, a gold trading firm registered in Dubai, which claims to have lost $742,206 between September 22 and October 21, 2021.
The Court of Appeal has allowed a Dubai-based company to challenge a decision to unfreeze the bank accounts of Judicial Registrar Anne Amadi, her son Brian and two others following an alleged gold export fraud.
Bruton Gold Trading LLC says police investigations show that Ms Amadi received some of the money she was allegedly defrauded of, and wants the Court of Appeal to impose new freezing orders on the named bank accounts.
The judge certified the case as urgent and ordered the parties to wait for the three-judge panel to be formed to hear the appeal.
Bruton claims that the bank account he wired money to is registered by Amadi & Associates Advocates and was opened by Ms Amadi after she joined the Judiciary.
The Sh91 million Bruton paid into the firm's account was withdrawn in cash by Ms Amadi's son Brian, Andrew Njenga Kiarie and Daniel Mureithi.
Bruton also wants the High Court case it filed seeking the disqualification of Justice Alfred Mabeya to be stayed. The Dubai firm claims that Justice Mabeya is biased and made an order that is final because it exonerated Ms Amadi and her son before the case was fully heard. It wants the case to be heard by a different High Court judge.
Bruton argues that due process was not followed when Mrs Amadi, her son and Mr Kiarie applied to unfreeze their accounts. The applications were not certified as urgent, which is a legal requirement, but Justice Mabeya proceeded to hear them and made a decision to unfreeze their accounts.
Bruton further alleges that the documents it filed on May 17, 2023 were mysteriously deleted from the judiciary's e-filing portal, and were only reinstated on May 29, 2023 after its lawyers physically went to the Milimani High Court to complain.
The Dubai firm insists that someone high up in the Judiciary's food chain is interfering with the case it has filed in the High Court, and says it fears Ms Amadi is using her influence to get a favourable outcome.
