By Leo Odera Omolo
THREE top manager of a sugar factory in Kibos area of Kisumu district were on Wednesday this week summoned to the Nyanza Provincial CID offices in Kisumu where they were interrogated for several hours, but later allowed to go home after recording statements with the police.
The managers, according to an impeccable source, were required to record statements with the police following the recent complaints and allegations of causing harassment to a court process server. It was alleged they had master minded the kidnapping of the court process server at gun-point and forcing him to sign sets of affidavits documents against his will.
Among the three who were interrogated were Mr. Raju {Sokhiwinder Singh Chattae0 who is a director of the Kibos sugar and Allied Industries Ltd, his elder brother Mr.Birey{Raghbir Singh Chattae and one of their employee whose name was given as Mr. Okoyo.. Also questioned was the van driver who had driven the kidnapped court process server in an open double cabin pick-up. Reg. Number KAR 595B.belonging to Channan Agricultural Contractors {CAC} This is also the family business flagship which owns the Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries ltd.
The incident, according to the court process server, Mr. Harun Odhiambo Okello took place in the afternoon of Saturday May 17th, 2008.
Narrating his ordeal, Mr. Okello had earlier told this writer that he had just alighted from a Kisumu City bound country bus after a brief visit to the capital, Nairobi where he had gone for business, but not knowing that he was being followed by some people.
He stopped at a small public join near his residence, called Yala Bar, but before he could consume a bottle of beer he had ordered, a pick up vehicle pulled up outside the bar. Two men emerged. One of them was Mr. Okoyo whom he knew well. The second man who was dressed in a back suit looked like a genuine police officer. The two told him that he should go with the because he was required urgently by the police .He obliged believing that the men were genuinely policemen on their duty.
In the pick vehicle was the driver who Mr. Okello knew his names Mr. John Juma..Instead of driving straight to the kisumu Police station, the group headed for the posh Milimani estate and stopped at a disused house on Nehru Road. And soon aftrer this they were joined by three other Asians of Siklh origins.
At this point Mr. Birey produced sets of documents , which they wanted Mr. Okello to sign repudiating and renouncing all the affidavits he had signed previously with the lawyers in regard to e mega civil case in connection with the auctioning of Miwani sugar Mills 10,000 acres neuclus estate farm. The also wanted to denounced the interview he had given to the representatives of the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission {KACC}¢
At this point, the alleged policeman who had accompanied the group pulled a revolver out of his jacket and placed it on the table. The group want mr. okello to state that in the previous affidavits, he was forced to sign them by a Kisumu lawyer against his will. As he feel very much intimidated and sensing that his life was in danger, Mr. Okello signed the documents, and even his finger prints were taken.
He was offered Kshs 20,000 but he declined, and was driven back to Manyatta estate from where he had been picked up by the group. But sensing that the document could be used to undermine his stands and position in the legal tussle involving the irregular auctioning of Miwani property by a ghost plaintiff by the name Negendra Saxena, Mr. Okello immediately reported the incident to the police. the next day he moved to the CID headquarters in Nairobi and recorded statement.. The Nairobi office had given him a letter addressed top the Nyanza Prov9incial CID office and requested that the matter be investigated thoroughly.
Sources at the Kisumu police says that when the group were brought to the police this week they uttered a forged document showing that Mr. Okello had volunteer;ly signed the affidavit before a resident magistrate a Mrs. Maloba on MAY 22, 2008. But this was the very day when Mr. Okello visit the Nairobi CID headquarters and recorded a statement. He should not have been the same person in Nairobi and the same person appearing before a magistrate commissioning the said affidavit.
For our readers, Mr. Okello is the one who was supposed to should have served the management of Miwani sugar company IN May 2007. but he has confessed that he had not physically served the summonses to the relevant persons, and had returned them unserved. But he admitted that he and Mr. Okoyo later posted some of the court document to Miwani via a security service van, and that was the beginning of his troubles.
But as fate would follow, on June 13th, 2008 the High Court sitting in Kisumu law court annulled last year¢s sale of Miwani property by auction.
Mr. Justice John Mwera in an 18 page judgement said the property in question has been subject of legal tussle between Miwani Sugar Company and a ghost plaintiff Nagendra Saxena declared as invalid summons that culminated in the sale of the 10,000 acres neuclus estate farm at an allegedly stage managed public action in December 2008.
The summlns the company, which is currently under the joint official receivership managers to attend court hearing to defend the suit, which was alleged to have been filed in court in 1993 by Saxena over a debt of Kshs 28 million consultqncy services , which the plaintiff had rendered to the Miwani sugar company in 1987
Summing up the matter, the Judge said that issues before the court were thqat a deputy registrar of the High Court MR. Abdul El-kindy had re-issued the summons following an exp[arte application by a businessman Mr. Nagendra Saxena.
The Plaintiff, through lawyer Gakoi Maina had persuaded the deputy registrar that { the registrar had jurisdiction to re-issue summons that were first issued in 1993, but were never served to the defendant- the Miwani sugar Company
…
Saxena who Miwani Sugar Company owed kshs 28 million was later to obtain court sanction to recover his debt through the sale by public auction of the company¢s property on L.R 21031 and L.R 75445/31R registered in Kisumu district.
The trqansaction, according to sources was hurriedly done in secrecy, and it was Dr. Oburu Oginga, the Finance Assistant Minister who blew up the whistle two months ago. It later emerged that the transaction was done in secrecy and even the title deed for the two farms were changed the same day as the auction took place. This has since degenerated a lot of controversies with residents of Miwani and Kano plains calling for a thorough investigation by the competent team of sleuths so as to ascertain the truth surrounding the Miwani sugar neuclus estate farm.
The controversial case revealed a lot of undercurrent and intriguing issues, in which even the magistrates signatures were forged, and documents massively backdated. As all these happened, the joint receiver managers of Miwani Sugar Company, Eng. Martin Owiti and Mr. Bett were unaware, and they only got rude shock when they read about the sale of the property of a firm in which they are managers through a newspaper report
The case has stirred up a lot of problems. Local scribes were heavily bribed not to report the goings in the media, and .many local journalists based in Kisumu had their hands heavily oiled with bribe money to gag the press. Court officials, police and the entire administration went quiet over the matter, which almost sparked tribal clashes in Kibnos Miwani areas.. the mailstone court judgement has amicably resolved the issue once and for all, though the alleged ghost plaintiff had 21 days to lodge the appeal.
Miwani Sugar Company was previously owned by the controversial Kenyan business tycoon MR. Ketan Somaia, who was later persuaded and sold his 49 per cent shares to the Kenyan government which previously had 52 per cent share equity. It became a parastatal owned by the government. But in late last year the government had floated the company for privatization and called for bidder by interested investors. Local and foreign investors won a tender to purchase the run-down sugar firm, which is the oldest white sugar manufacturing firm in Kenya for Kshs 3.7 billion.
But before the transaction could take place, a group of local wealthy Asian farmers in Kibos conspired together and moved to court with what observers alleged to be fictitious claims, and wanted to auction the 10,000 neuclus estate to pre-empty the transaction.
The alleged auctioning of Miwani sugar farm has seen millions of shillings changing hands in massive bribery and fraudulent uttering of falsified documents here and there in vain effort to deny the government of Kenya the right to offload its share in its own investment..
It was not clear what would happen to the current revelation of forged document to justify the harassment complaints of the Kisumu humble process server Mr. Okello.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:17:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: POLICE IN NYANZA INTERROGATES SUGAR FACTORY DIRECTORS IN CONNECTION WITH GUN-POINT KIDNAPING OF COURT PROCESS SERVER.
Dear All,
Please make sure that these wealthy Kalasingha businessmen do not mess around with Miwani Sugar and its property. I was associated with this company sometime back and I very well know these kalasinghas are capable of what, I mean they are real crooks in this world. So please fight these bastard asians and save Miwani for the people of Miwani and let a genuine investor take over the company and run it professionally. My tears roll down when I hear some bastards for their selfish interest are ruining lives of Miwani people.
Kalasinghas? Bastard asians? How can such a racist post be allowed to be published? I am born in Kenya and have migrated to Australia. I am of Indian origin however consider myself to be Kenyan through and through. Everyday I hear of Asians being killed and robbed. I don’t see any racism or generalisation being thrown around by us. However one alleged kidnapping brings on such abuse. Mr XYZ is obviously a bitter soul due to his own short comings as an individual.
Mr XYS
You are a scurrilous man. Kibos Sugar is trying to help the local community. How about you find out from the locals? The world has no place for racists like you. Don’t you ever call asians bastards. Your tears roll down don’t they so why don’t you distribute your money for all these people who sympathize with? Its easier said than done. ‘These wealthy kalasingha men’ that is a horrendous thing to say. You embarass Kenyans to be honest. So please keep your unpleasant comments to yourself and if you really sympathize with our fellow kenyans then, rather than posting such obnoxious comments, do something for them.
You are an embassement to Kenyans. Infact supremacists like you are a blemish on wonderful Kenyans who don’t care about the colour. Sometimes I wonder wether people like you are even worth being called a human being?
And also, I would appreciate it you could come across in a more respective manner next time. You know, you are boasting about being a Kenyan and faithful to your country but surely, a real Kenyan doesn’t discriminate against other cultures.
Since you brought it up, I would like to tell you how I feel about you – you are an uncultured, abusive, foul and disparaging man.
Dear XYZ,
Firstly if tears roll down when you hear about this pls do try giving our fellow kenyan jobs like kibos sugar has done and wants to keep on doing.you are the biggest bumb amongst us as all you can do is speak and not even do anything for ur country like what asians are doing.with all due respect i have never seen such an illiterate man like yourself mr xyz as u can not do anything for miwani and when others try to u think it is wrong when they want to create jobs for the locals and make it a more lively town as all the jobless will be employed. MR XYZ all you have proven urself to be is a silly raccist man u do not even have ur facts right u darn fellow.
This man called Gavlar must be an idiot these kalasingas are real crooks and soon KACC will catch up with them,they are Tax evaders and racists.Soon and very soon we will not allow Asians to invest in kisumu at all let them try elsewhere we can do without them kwani they think the peanuts they pay africans is a priviledge? @*.!!
@ Aggrey Kituyi – Not allow Asians to invest in Kisumu? You are clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed are you mate? Do you know what percentage of investment in Kisumu comes from Asians? And how many Jobs this provides for the local community? Without this your great Kisumu city would return to a village status in days (And I am sure noone would elect you chief of the village as clearly your not too smart:))
Oh and during the post election violence I recall residents of Kisumu burning down their own city, from which it is still recovering! And a great deal of this recovery is due to ‘Asian Investment’! So open your eyes and stop being so ignorant!
My problem with these so called or calling themselves in ‘investors’ is their disrespect for their African employees.The kind of insults they hurl at them, work environment within which they operate is just horrible. Their motive has always been to kill businesses run and owned by Africans and create a monopolistic situation in the economy where the main players are them. With this, honestly, the short term gains they are enticing us Africans with now will be our major undoing in the future. For instance, once they have ensured the total collapse of Chemelil, Muhoroni, and Miwani, that will make them the only players in the region, which will see them be in control. They ultimately will offer farmers lower cane buying prices, delayed payments, etc since the farmers will be at their behest, as has been the case with fish, sweet potatoes, etc.
Let’s watch out!