By GALGALLO FAYO
In Summary
- Justice David Majanja however declined to award Mr Manfred Schmitt Sh59 million he sought from government, on grounds that he failed to prove that he suffered the loss.
- Manfred moved to court in June last year arguing he had incurred heavy emotional and financial loss due to the fraud claims.
- The High Court in December cleared Mr Schmitt of fraud allegations and lifted orders that froze the businessman’s cash at the Diamond Trust Bank.
A German at the centre of a Dubai Bank fraud
investigation has been awarded Sh1 million as general damages for
unlawful freezing of Sh635 million in his bank accounts by Kenyan
police.
Justice David Majanja however declined to award Mr
Manfred Schmitt Sh59 million he sought from government, on grounds that
he failed to prove that he suffered the loss.
Manfred moved to court in June last year arguing he had incurred heavy emotional and financial loss due to the fraud claims.
The High Court in December cleared Mr Schmitt of fraud allegations and lifted orders that froze the businessman’s cash at the Diamond Trust Bank.
“I do not think the action by the respondents
(Police) was motivated by actual malice or bad faith. On the other hand,
the 1st petitioner (Mr Schmitt) suffered the humiliation and indignity
of his accounts being frozen without lawful cause,” observed justice
Majanja.
“Taking these factors into account and the
authorities I have cited above, a global sum of Sh500,000 for each of
the petitioners (Mr Schmitt and his company) would go some way in
vindicating the petitioners’ rights,” he ruled.
The Judge further ordered the office of Attorney
General and police to foot half of the cost incurred by Mr Schmitt in
application for the claim.
But the businessman will bear the cost incurred by
DTB in defending the case after the Judge found that its enjoinment as a
defendant was an abuse of the court process.
The businessman moved Sh635 million to DTB in 2011
and transferred the cash to Dubai Bank after 10 months before wiring
the money back to DTB, which alerted the Central Bank.
Mr Justice Majanja observed that the businessman’s
right to privacy was infringed on when he was searched and his property
seized.
The Judge declined to award the businessman compensation for the legal fees he had incurred defending the case.
The Judge said having directed all parties to bear
its own cost in earlier ruling when he lifted the freeze, the same
cannot be reopened since no appeal against the same has been filed.
He further dismissed Mr Schmitt’s compensation
claims for interest and lost business opportunities noting that
businessman failed to produce the evidence.
Banking Fraud Investigations Unit got an order from the magistrate’s court allowing it to freeze the cash.
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