De la Rue facility off Thika Road. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) may forge ahead with its
tendering for printing of new currency notes unhindered after De la Rue
opted to withdraw its legal battle against the regulator.
While appearing before High Court judge Enock Chacha Mwita, De la Rue said it has decided to shelve the legal battle.
Justice Mwita consequently marked the suit as withdrawn by consent of both parties.
However,
the judge directed that costs of the suit to be agreed upon between the
two and if an agreement is not reached they should be taxed by the
deputy registrar.
The CBK only told court Thursday that De la Rue had issued them with a notice to withdraw the matter.
“We have no objection to the withdrawal,” said lawyer Ochieng Oduol for the CBK.
The
withdrawal comes a time when De La Rue was expected to respond to
allegations of illegally acquiring tender documents for a process, which
they did not participate in.
While De la Rue had sought to stop the ongoing tender whose bids
were opened on November 30, Justice Mwita had declined to issue any
temporary orders and asked the firm to respond to the allegations
levelled against it.
“We
must find out the veracity of the alleged documents, if they are valid
we proceed with the case that is before us because it is a
constitutional matter. If they are merited, nothing will stop the court
from nullifying the whole tender,” said Justice Mwita earlier.
According
to the CBK, De la Rue was not pre-qualified to tender or invited to
submit or participate in the disputed tender yet it had in its
possession a confidential document, which cannot be disclosed unless a
court order has been issued.
The CBK also claimed that
there were avenues which the firm should have used to request the
disputed documents, but they [management] failed to do so hence the
reason as to why the documents attached as evidence were to be struck
out and considered as inadmissible.
De la Rue together with EPZ ltd had sued the CBK claiming that local companies were blantantly ignored in the tender.
“The danger of allowing this process is that we could end up with another Anglo- leasing kind of scandal,” De la Rue had said.
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