The High Court has dismissed a petition by Kenya Enterprises Development Fund Board (KEDFB) seeking to recover Sh189.3 million from collapsed Chase Bank Limited.
Justice Aleem Visram allowed the application by the bank, which was placed under liquidation, stating that the matter had been decided by another court which ordered Quarandum Ltd to refund the money to the State-owned corporation.
“A compensation order having already been made in the said matter, and given that execution is still pending, I am satisfied that the present suit would not yield anything further and would therefore be improper use of judicial time and resources,” the judge ruled.
The claim arose from a corruption case in which businessman Mukuria Ngamau- a director of Quarandum, was found guilty and sentenced to 27 years in jail for stealing Sh180 million from the State-owned fund.
The board then sought to recover the money from the collapsed lender, arguing that criminal proceedings do not stop a party from pursuing civil proceedings, based on the same cause of action.
According to the board, it was pursuing the money because the proceeds from the criminal case were forwarded to the Consolidated Fund.
But the court was informed that the order from the anti-corruption court is enforceable and nothing stopped KEDFB from recovering the money.
The judge, however, said a valid court order had been made in favour of the KEDFB and there was no reason for pursuing the funds using a new court order.
Mr Ngamau was given the option of paying a fine of Sh900 million over the theft of public funds.
The businessman lost an appeal in the High Court after challenging his conviction and the fines arguing that the court failed to analyse the evidence properly and arrived at a wrong decision.
Justice Esther Maina, however, said Mr Ngamau was paid money for a tender that was awarded to another company.
Mr Ngamua was found guilty of several counts of unlawful acquisition of public money, making false documents.
He committed the offences on diverse dates between November 17, 2014, and May 4, 2015, in Nairobi.
Mr Ngamau and his trading company received the money without rendering any services and after forging contract documents for the provision of ICT consultancy services.
The court also directed him to refund the Sh180 million, which was paid to his firm irregularly.
