A judge has rejected an application by more than 2,400 Nigerian investors seeking permission to pursue billions of shillings that had been frozen by a State agency on suspicion of money laundering but later freed.
Court of Appeal judge Jessie Lesiit dismissed the appeal by the 2,469 Nigerians saying the investors were not party in the proceedings before the High Court, which was withdrawn by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) in February last year.
In the matter, the State agency obtained court orders freezing more than Sh5.17 billion linked to payment solution firm Flutterwave Payment Technology Limited and six other firms.
ARA withdrew the petition last year, allowing the firms to get back their money but the Nigerians led by Morris Ebitimi Joseph moved to court arguing that they had a stake in the billions, having been allegedly swindled of money by a sports betting platform that used Flutterwave to process the payments.
“The applicant was not a party in the case before the High Court, and the attempt to be enjoined in the suit was dismissed before the case was closed. In the result then, I find that the application is incompetent,” Justice Lesiit said.
Justice Lesiit noted that the trial Judge Esther Maina rejected the Nigerians’ bid to join the case after failing to demonstrate that they had an identifiable stake in the case.
And after the withdrawal of the case by ARA, the trial court ruled that their claim could not stand alone, since once the suit was withdrawn there were no issues left for determination.
Flutterwave opposed the case arguing that there was nothing to pursue after the application for withdrawal of the petition after ARA’s application was adopted by the court.
The agency obtained orders freezing Sh5.17 billion in 29 accounts at GTB and the rest in Equity and Ecobank in Kenya shillings, US dollars, euros, and Sterling pounds.
While freezing the funds in 2022, the agency had claimed that investigations revealed the cash was wired in the guise of payments for goods and services.
