This archive report was first published on 27 November 2019.
Businessman Kamlesh Pattni was implicated in the Goldenberg scandal in the 1990s, but was acquitted in 2013.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is seeking the intervention of Chief Justice David Maraga to save it from paying over Sh20 million to two companies associated with businessman Kamlesh Pattni.
According to an application filed at the Supreme Court, the anti-graft agency claims the decision compelling it to pay Marshalls East Africa Ltd and Delphis Bank Ltd the money would cripple its work of recovering stolen public funds.
EACC lawyer Ben Murei said the Court of Appeal made a mistake in awarding the costs to the two companies, arguing that the commission was only acting in public interest.
“The commission in exercising its asset recovery mandate does so in the great public interest and should not be subjected to unreasonably high costs. The mere fact that the case touched on the Goldenberg scandal appears to have misled the taxing officer to make a huge award,” said Murei.
He added that the move would open floodgates for other parties to file similar claims, citing that 10 other firms, which were in the case, had filed other cases seeking Sh4.3 billion as costs of taking them to court.
The dispute dates back to 2003 when the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) sought to have Marshalls East Africa Ltd and Delphis Bank Ltd put under receivership over allegations that Pattni bought them using proceeds from the multi-billion-shilling Goldenberg scandal.
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