Three directors of Adsite Limited face possible arrest after the High Court declined to shield them from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over a disputed vehicle transaction valued at KSh7.5 million.
General manager Samir Shah and directors Ramesh Shah and Nasim Shah had sought anticipatory bail in a petition before Justice Weldon Korir. They argued that their disagreement with motor vehicle dealer Marshalls East Africa Limited arose from a barter agreement and should be handled as a civil matter.
The directors claimed DCI officers had followed them around their homes, offices and roads in Parklands while threatening to arrest them and seize the three vehicles.
“We have been stalked and trailed to our offices and on the roads by DCI officers purportedly from Nairobi Criminal Investigation office who leave threatening messages to employees and guards directed at us that the suit motor vehicles shall be seized and we will be arrested,” they said.
According to Samir Shah, Marshalls approached Adsite through its sales manager in 2017 with an offer to sell the advertising company three KIA 2700 pickup vehicles. The parties allegedly agreed that Adsite would pay a KSh1.5 million deposit, with the remaining KSh5.85 million offset against outdoor advertising services supplied to Marshalls over one year.
Shah said Adsite initially deposited KSh500,000 and issued two more cheques on May 10, 2017, covering the KSh1 million balance of the deposit. He alleged that Marshalls later removed the vehicles from Adsite’s showroom despite those payments.
Adsite, which says it has operated since 1970 and previously conducted business with Marshalls, maintains that it fulfilled its side of the agreement by installing additional billboards along James Gichuru Road, Peponi Road, Museum Road and Masaai Drive.
The High Court’s decision left the DCI free to pursue the directors, with DCI director George Kinoti expected to make the arrests. The directors, however, insist the dispute concerns the agreed mode of settling the outstanding purchase price and remains before the court as a contractual case.