BY SAM ALFAN.
Agriculture Cabinet secretary Mithika Linturi has been ordered to appear in court without fail, for sentencing after he was found guilty of contempt of court.
The CS was found guilty after the ministry he heads failed to reinstate Agro-Chemical and Food Company (ACFC) boss Ashok Agarwal.
Justice Anthony Ndung’u directed Linturi to appear before him on February 21, failure to which a warrant of his arrest will be issued.
“In the right of the above, u find the 1st and 2nd and 3rd contemnors in contempt of the orders if this court issued on 30th June 2022. Accordingly, I order that they appear in person before this court on 21st of February 2023 to confirm the purging of the contempt in default of which they are to be sentenced in accordance with the law. In default of appearance, a warrant of arrest is to be issued,” ordered Judge Ndung’u.
Linturi will carry the burden of the judgement which was issued during when Peter Munya served as the cabinet secretary for Agriculture.
In the case, Mehta International limited and the Mehta group management moved to court seeking to find the Cabinet Secretary, Mohamed Bulle and Timothy Ojwang’ jointly and severally for contempt of court for their willful and deliberate disobedience and defiant of a court order, issued on June 30, last year.
The three are accused of refusing to allow Mehta International Ltd and Ashok Agarwal to resume their responsibilities as technical advisor/manager and resident director/CEO of Agrochemical and Food Company.
Mehta wants the court to jail the three for a term not less than one year or they be condemned to pay a fine of not less than Sh1 million.
The court on 30th June last year, had suspended the implementation of a directive issued by the then CS Munya.
The company argued that the said suspension by the High Court was never set aside or vacated.
Bulle filed an affidavit explaining that the management contract between the board of Agrochemical and Food Company Ltd and mehta group lapsed on December 31, last year and Ashok’s tenure lapsed by effluxion of time.
He added that in the absence of management agreement with Mehta group, the CEO’s office was created warranting the board to exercise the power conferred upon it by article 108 in recommending the appointment of Timothy Ojwang’ by the parent ministry.
It was argued that the company obtained the order was obtained through non-disclosure of key issues to the court hence blocking the respondent from being heard prior to compliance with the order as amounted to miscarriage of justice.
