A court has frozen the bank accounts of Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi and those of a law firm registered in her name that is at the centre of a gold scandal case in which a British citizen claims to have been defrauded of more than Sh100 million in US dollars in 2021.
Ms Amadi, alongside her son Brian Ochieng, two other Kenyans and a Liberian citizen have been sued by Bruton Gold Trading LLC, a gold trading firm registered in Dubai, which claims to have lost $742,206 between September 22 and October 21, 2021.
According to an affidavit by the trader, Mr Demetrios Bradshaw, the money was meant for the purchase of 1,500 kilogrammes of gold bars, but the precious metal was never delivered to the buyer in Dubai.
The other defendants in the case are Andrew Njenga Kiarie, Kikanae Topoti, Daniel Ndegwa Kangara alias Daniel Muriithi and Edward Taylor alias Mboronda Seyenkulo Sakor, a Liberian passport holder.
Mr Ochieng (Amadi’s son), Mr Kiarie and Mr Topoti are advocates in the law firm, Amadi and Associates, while Mr Kangara was representing a company called Universal Gold Logistics Limited (UGL) and Mr Sakor was said to have been the vendor of the gold.
High Court judge David Majanja on Thursday certified the case as urgent and froze several bank accounts belonging to Ms Amadi and the law firm- Amadi & Associates Advocates, pending the determination of the case.
“That pending the hearing and determination of the application herein, the honourable court be pleased to order that accounts numbers *** domiciled at ABC Bank, Green House Mall, Nairobi, in the name of Amadi & Associates, Advocates (and any other bank account registered to or held by Amadi & Associates), and no funds whatsoever should be withdrawn from the accounts without the express order of the court,” Majanja said.
In his affidavit, Mr Bradshaw says that in September 2021, he entered into a transaction with Mr Taylor and paid the cash to UGL through Amadi and Associates, who were its legal representatives. Mr Kangara then sent him documents indicating that the gold had been exported and would shortly arrive in Dubai. He was given a flight and consignment number.
However, when he checked with the airline, he was told no such consignment had been sent aboard the flight. When he checked with Kangara and Sakor, they informed him that the gold had been taken off the plane as there were some payments which had not been made. He then made the payments and they confirmed to him that some 200 kilogrammes of gold would be exported on the October 22, 2021.
“That pending the hearing and determination of the application herein, the honourable court be pleased to order that accounts numbers *** domiciled at ABC Bank, Green House Mall, Nairobi, in the name of Amadi & Associates, Advocates (and any other bank account registered to or held by Amadi & Associates), and no funds whatsoever should be withdrawn from the accounts without the express order of the court,” Majanja said.
In his affidavit, Mr Bradshaw says that in September 2021, he entered into a transaction with Mr Taylor and paid the cash to UGL through Amadi and Associates, who were its legal representatives. Mr Kangara then sent him documents indicating that the gold had been exported and would shortly arrive in Dubai. He was given a flight and consignment number.
However, when he checked with the airline, he was told no such consignment had been sent aboard the flight. When he checked with Kangara and Sakor, they informed him that the gold had been taken off the plane as there were some payments which had not been made. He then made the payments and they confirmed to him that some 200 kilogrammes of gold would be exported on the October 22, 2021.
