NBK Boss in Trouble for Contempt of Court

National Bank of Kenya (NBK) managing director, Paul Russo, is in the light after two companies want him arraigned for contempt of court.

Juja Coffee Exporters and Lamu Ginneries want to sue the bank officials for failure to obey court orders that temporarily stopped the bank from advertising for sale or interfering with a parcel of land in Lamu.

The duo who are associated with the late Mombasa businessman Tahir Sheikh has said that the NBK boss together with the director of legal services Samuel Mundia and head of credit, remedial, collections, and recoveries Eustace Nyaga should be sentenced to civil jail for six months.

In an application at the High Court in Mombasa, the two companies have argued that Mr. Russo failed to exercise control over the bank’s officers to ensure they obeyed court orders.

“Mr. Nyaga permitted his supervisors to write a letter which forwarded the executed transfer (of a title) to Miqdad Enterprises’ lawyer despite an auction of the property contrary to a court order. Mr. Mundia wrote a letter forwarding executed transfer and did not stop it resulting in the transfer of the land on the strength of an illegal auction,” the companies stated.

According to the companies, the Managing Director, Director of Legal Services, and Head of Credit, Remedial, Collections & Recoveries all failed to ensure that the transfer documents were not presented for registration once they were served with the order of March 30.

“It is necessary to protect the rule of law, dignity of the court and confidence in the judicial system that court orders are obeyed and those who violate them are punished, “they noted.

Juja coffee Exports and Lamu Ginneries also want a temporary injunction issued restraining Miqdad Enterprises Ltd from selling, leasing, transferring, or in any way interfering with their possession of the land before the determination of the application.