Nokia takes local dealer to court over Sh260m

By Nancy Akinyi

Nokia Corporation has sued its Kenyan-based distributor Musimba Investment over a Sh260 million claim for goods supplied to the local firm

The distributor urged the court to stay any proceeding relating to the debt in question and refer the same to an arbiter in Finland; that being the country of origin of the plaintiff company.

"Let us go to Finland and arbitrate then come back to local courts if there will be a decree to be satisfied in relation to the debt ", the advocate for Musimba Investment said.

It accused the mobile company of moving to court before exhausting the arbitration clause.

Dismiss application

But Nokia said since the amount was colossal and that the distributor resides in Kenya the debt should be pursued through local courts.

"The defendant is a resident in Kenya, the goods were supplied in Kenya and the debt in question occurred in Kenya, so why should we got to Finland?" the firm’s advocate argued.

He told Commercial Court Judge Joyce Khaminwa that the arbitration clause was very clear in supply agreement and could not be relied on in debt claims.

Nokia maintained that there was no dispute for arbitral determination but maintained that the issue of debt was very clear and could be resolved by any court in Kenya.

The mobile phone maker said there was no exclusive jurisdiction to arbitration in Finland and urged the court to dismiss the application seeking to refer the matter to Finland and allow it to pursue the multi-million claim.

The court will give its ruling on July 30.

 

 

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