A cargo handling company has sued Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for illegal detention of its imported goods for more than 38 days, a move that led to the loss of business among other operational costs in a protracted verification process.
Eye Link Cargo ltd, which handles bulk shipments of goods and customs clearance on its behalf and on that of its clients within the country and the region accuses the Customs & Border Control Department of subjecting it to an unfair business environment, allegedly aimed at intimidating it to stop shipping cargo through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The firm said in documents filed in the High Court that it chartered aircraft from Dubai on June 28, 2023, and was expected to arrive at JKIA on June 30.
The goods, the firm said, weighed about 20830 kilogrammes of consolidated and loose cargo, and included clothes, spare parts, solar lights, shoes, wood glass lights and laptops.
It says some of the goods including laptops were withheld for more than a month in a verification process, leading to the loss of several laptops and subjecting the firm to incur heavy warehouse storage charges and extra taxes.
“The plaintiff further avers that as a result of the said delayed clearance of its consignment, it lost some of its consignment which would have not been otherwise lost had the goods been deposited in a customs warehouse,” the firm said
