Reprieve for ex-Telkom bosses in Sh14b case

 

Lawyer Kamau Karori, representing SACCO officials [Fidelis Kabunyi, Standard]

The High Court has stopped the prosecution of Telkom Kenya senior managers and board members over a controversial sale of 60 acres belonging to the company’s staff Sacco.

Anthony Mrima stopped the Sacco officials from instituting private prosecution against Telkom’s CEO Mugo Kibati and the six officials, until the dispute relating to the Sh14 billion land on Ngong Road, Nairobi is heard and determined.

“Pending the hearing and determination of the suit, the court issues an order restraining the intended private prosecution against the named officials in relation to the dispute over the land situated along Ngong Road,” ruled Justice Mrima.

Others who have been saved from prosecution are Telkom’s board members Eddy Njoroge, Jinaro Kibet, Dorcas Kombo, Sayyid Said, as well as former CEO Michael Ghossein and Lois Allella.

The dispute arose after Postel Housing Co-operative Society Limited officials Henry Belso, Amson Kibii and Stephen Magoma, who obtained permission from the magistrate’s court allowing them to institute private prosecution against the Telkom managers for allegedly selling the Sacco’s land.

The dispute dates back to 1993, when the then Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC) entered into an agreement with the staff Sacco to purchase 79 acres along Ngong Road, which would then be developed into housing units for the staff.

The Sacco’s officials claimed their members were asked to pay Sh350,000 for a piece of the land, which they did, but none of them has been issued with a title to date.

In 2011, the Sacco officials, who are former Telkom employees, claimed they learned the company had hived off 60 acres and sold it to third parties at a cost of Sh1.5 billion.

The officials claimed the Director of Criminal Investigations and the Director of Public Prosecutions failed to act on their complaints despite evidence of fraud in disposing of their land.

They later filed the application to be allowed to institute private prosecutions against the Telkom management.

Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Kennedy Cheruiyot, on October 8, allowed their application and granted them permission to commence prosecuting the Telkom CEO and the board members. It was Cheruiyot’s decision that prompted the CEO and the board members to file the application to stop their prosecution.

Their lawyer Kamau Karori argued that the private prosecution was an abuse of the court process, considering the same parties had filed another suit at commercial court regarding the same land.

Not party to transaction

“The complaint relates to matters that allegedly occurred in 1993, which is more than 28 years ago, when the current managers were not in office. It is wrong to accuse people who were not a party to the transaction when the Sacco officials have been there all that time,” said Karori.

According to Karori, the intended private prosecution was aimed at achieving an ulterior motive of bringing pressure to the Telkom CEO and stopping him from pursuing the company’s land.

He said the magistrate’s decision interfered with the constitutional independence of the DPP, who had reviewed the file and reached a conclusion that there was no basis to charge any of the Telkom managers in relation to the land’s transaction.