High Court judge Aggrey Muchelule directed the officer commanding police station (OCS) to appear before him on February 25 to explain why the junior Moi had not been apprehended since April 2019 when an order was issued to do so.
Philip, 54, was involved in divorce proceedings with his estranged wife Rossana Pluda, a matter that dragged on all the way to the Court of Appeal. And after losing the cases, Philip was ordered to pay costs of the case to his former wife.
The parties recorded an agreement before court in February 2019, directing Philip to pay Sh1,830,000 as costs of the case, among other issues. The money was to be paid before March 29, 2019.
The High Court has summoned the commander of Nairobi’s Muthaiga Police Station to explain failure to implement a warrant of arrest against former President Daniel Moi’s son Philip over a debt of Sh1.8 million arising from an acrimonious divorce a decade ago.
High Court judge Aggrey Muchelule directed the officer commanding police station (OCS) to appear before him on February 25 to explain why the junior Moi had not been apprehended since April 2019 when an order was issued to do so.
Philip, 54, was involved in divorce proceedings with his estranged wife Rossana Pluda, a matter that dragged on all the way to the Court of Appeal. And after losing the cases, Philip was ordered to pay costs of the case to his former wife.
The parties recorded an agreement before court in February 2019, directing Philip to pay Sh1,830,000 as costs of the case, among other issues. The money was to be paid before March 29, 2019.
Senior Counsel Judy Thongori, however, went back to court saying Philip was yet to comply with the directive.
When the matter came up before court in April 2019, a warrant for his arrest was issued. Ms Thongori said the order was served to the Muthaiga Police Station through the regional police commander.
About a month later in May 21, 2019, Philip sent a letter through his advocate saying he was willing to comply with the order and offset the amount in instalments of Sh500,000 until he paid the full amount.
The request was declined but he nonetheless sent a cheque of Sh500,000 on July 30, 2019 through his lawyer.
The advocate revealed that Philip sent another cheque of Sh500,000 on December 11, 2019 as a second instalment, leaving a balance of Sh1.8 million.
But since then, he allegedly went quiet.
Ms Thongori argued Philip had no intention of paying the balance, yet the OCS had failed to arrest him.
She successfully asked the judge to summon the OCS to explain why he could not comply with the order.
If arrested, Ms Thongori wants Philip sent to civil jail.
“That I verily believe that it is in the interest of justice that the respondent be committed to civil jail,” she says in an affidavit.
The arrest will not be the first one for the former army major. He was briefly held in 2012 for failing to pay his estranged wife Pluda maintenance, which had then accumulated to more than Sh8 million.
Then, he had been fighting a court order directing him to pay Sh250,000 monthly maintenance to Ms Pluda.
Justice Roselyn Nambuye, then a judge of the High Court, ordered the former president’s son to be pay his estranged wife the amount monthly in May 2010.
Justice Nambuye said the retired soldier had the resources from which he could, if he so wished, pay the amount.
But in 2012, Philip moved to court seeking to be declared bankrupt, arguing that he was unable to pay his accumulated debts. In addition to the Sh7.5 million that he owed Ms Pluda then, he said he owed his lawyers legal fees.
But Ms Pluda disputed the claims saying her former husband was capable of paying his debts and that he was living a luxurious life and owned various properties through proxies.
She told the court then that Philip had been attempting to escape paying the maintenance fee of Sh250,000 by filing various court cases.
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