Lawyer Donald Kipkorir for Local Authorities Pensions Trust Administration Services Limited leaving Milimani law Court’s.
BY SAM ALFAN.
A decision to outlaw a pension fund for county workers has been revoked.
This means that those working in counties can now breathe a sigh of relief after the court quashed the decision to de-register the fund that controls almost Sh24 billion..
The regulator on September 4 2014 revoked the license of CPF Financial Services, which is one of the largest administrators of pension schemes in Kenya.
The County Pension Fund (CPF) Financial Services, formerly the Local Authorities Pensions Trust Administration Services Limited challenged the move through their lawyer Donald Kipkorir.
Justice Weldon Korir found that the process leading to the deregistration of CPF was marred by irregularities and the firm was condemned unheard.
The process he said was unfair and the decision to appoint an inspector for LAPTRUST must have been informed by that impugned process.
In a judgment delivered on his behalf, the judge said the fact that a decision to deregister CPF before issuing a notice of intention to deregister could only lead to the conclusion that the statutory process had been breached.
There was procedural impropriety, he said.
The Retirements Benefit Authority he said cannot hide behind alleged grave irregularities on the part of the applicants or claim protection of public interest in order to cover its failings.
“RBA erred in its actions and no plea of good faith or protection of the interests of the funds members can salvage its decision as conveyed in the letter dated September 4 2014,” he said.
In the case, RBA in a letter dated September 2014 directed Laptrust to surrender its certificates of registration for destruction and communicated its plans to deregister it.
The regulator claimed that the board of trustees, a public entity, unlawfully registered itself as a corporate body.
