The controversy surrounding the leasing of
The court is seeking to understand why the lowest bid by
Senior Counsel
"Political leaders also need to explain why they supported Sarrai," said Muite adding that, "the County Government (of Kakamega) should have the farmers interest at heart".
The County Government had moved to Kakamega high court in January to stop
Tumaz and Tumaz , and
Other defendants in the case were PVR Rao who was the
While ruling on the case on
The judge appointed Kereto Marima as the new administrator for
"This court has considered the allegations made against the leasing process .Rao awarded the lease to the lowest bidder while there were higher bidders, without giving any justifiable explanation," the judge ruled.
He further noted that there were no other reasons given by Rao to explain why the other bids that were higher than that of
"The manner in which Rao handled the leasing process did not tally with what was expected of him as an administrator," noted the judge.
He said the lease was not in line with the best interest of the company and wondered why Rao refused to produce the lease in court.
"The same (lease) was withheld from the court without any explanation. What did it contain that Rao did not want the court to see?" the judge asked.
Muite said he was surprised that KCB, a tier one bank which appointed Rao as its receiver manager, would have sanctioned the lease for about Sh6 billion.
"The CEO and Rao owe the public an explanation as to why they sanctioned the lowest bidder for Mumias," he told the court.
Muite noted that the new court appointed administrator will revive the company in a transparent manner, and that the interest of the shareholders and the public will be considered.
He added that the ruling was a big win for farmers, some of whom delivered their sugarcane to the factory a long time ago and have not been paid.
The new administrator will start the leasing process afresh and given the high interest from investors, the factory will be revived quickly especially if the process is done in a transparent manner.
Both bids for Mwale's Tumaz and Tumaz and Rai's
"The court made a well argued and reasoned judgement," said the tycoon .
The judge gave the new administrator 60 days to report the list of both secured and unsecured creditors and amounts owed to them to court and start the new leasing process.
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