Eight directors of listed firm Kakuzi have gone back to court to stop an investigation by Capital Markets Authority (CMA) over alleged conflict of interest and financial impropriety.
In an application to be heard next month, the directors led by chief executive officer Christopher Flowers want the inquiry stopped, pending the hearing of an appeal they have filed.
Other directors facing the investigation are Nicholas Ng’ang’a, Graham Mclean, Andrew Njoroge, Ketan Rameshchandra, Daniel Ndonye, Stephen Waruhiu, and John Kimani.
The regulator started investigations into companies that have been doing business with Kakuzi and which have links to some of the directors.
The High Court on September 30 dismissed an appeal by the directors paving the way for the CMA to proceed with the inquiry.
But the directors submitted that they will suffer substantial prejudice if the capital markets regulator is allowed to proceed with the inquiry process, before their appeal is determined.
The court had suspended the execution of the decision for 21 days which ended on October 21. The directors formally went back to court on October 15 and the matter was fixed for highlighting submissions on November 19, 2025.
“The appellants are reasonably apprehensive that unless the orders sought herein are granted, the respondent (CMA) will proceed with the inquiry which will further occasion great injustice to the appellants and would render the intended appeal nugatory,” the directors said in the application.
The High Court dismissed their appeal last month saying the directors and the company failed to prove any violation of their rights and fundamental freedoms, for the court to intervene.
“The appellants’ (Kakuzi’s) actions also seem to be premature. As such, the contention is for rejection,” said the court.
The eight directors had faulted the investigation, which commenced in June 2021, arguing that the entire process was not fair and did not meet the constitutional requirements of right to fair hearing.
In the second appeal, the directors have faulted the court over the failure to find and uphold their constitutional right to a fair hearing and in particular, the refusal or failure to disclose the particulars of the alleged financial impropriety.
They said the failure to disclose the complaints received from third parties and failure to give reasons as to why it considered their documents submitted during the inquiry as insufficient, was wrong.
They have also submitted that the court made an error in finding that they did not prove any infractions of their rights and fundamental rights.
It is their argument that the regulator erred by withholding the particulars of the alleged financial impropriety or give reasons for the failure to provide the nature of the complaints, received from alleged third parties.
They further submitted that they were within their constitutional rights to not only request information concerning the allegations raised against them, but also the evidence and materials relied upon by the CMA.
The regulator said in its filings that it had sufficient cause to conduct the investigation, which centred on Management and Operational Services Agreements signed between Robertson Bois Dickson Anderson Limited and Kakuzi on December 11, 2017, as well as the those signed between Eastern Produce Regional Services Limited and the agricultural firm.
The regulator also intended to probe business dealings and agreements with related companies including Robertson Bois Dickson Anderson Limited, Eastern Produce Kenya Limited, EPK Empowerment Company (Kenya) Limited, Lintak Enterprises (K) Limited, Linton Park (Kenya) Limited and Siret Tea Limited.
