High Court Judge David Majanja has disqualified himself from hearing further a lawsuit where a British national has sued Chief Registrar of Judiciary Anne Amadi over alleged Ksh89 million gold scam.
Justice Majanja recused himself from the case, saying he could not continue hearing it since he sits in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) where Amadi is the secretary to the commission.
"l am a member of JSC where Amadi sits as the secretary and CRJ and I granted the order on that basis it was the law firm- Amadi & Associates Advocates registered in her name. I note that there are issues pertaining to my partiality and the impression created to the members of the public. I, therefore, disqualify myself from hearing the matter and refer it to the High Court Commercial Division Presiding Judge Alfred Mabeya for hearing on Wednesday morning," Justice Majanja said.
Following the recusal of the judge, Amadi and her son Brian Ochieng through Lawyers Ochieng Oduol and Sam Nyaberi urged the court to vacate the orders freezing their personal accounts pending the hearing and determination of the case before Justice Mabeya.
While urging Justice Majanja to set aside the orders before the file can be transmitted to the Presiding Judge, Oduol told the petitioner Demetrios Bradshaw obtained the freezing orders through deceit as he took advantage of the ex-parte proceedings to mislead the court without full disclosure in the matter.
"We were seeking temporary relief by staying the freezing orders you issued last week. We believe that the court was deceived and the orders are causing a lot of prejudice to Amadi, " Oduol told the judge.
"We have raised objections in the case to have the orders vacated and attached an affidavit by Amadi revealing she was not involved in the gold fraud and the court should not be used to try to extort an individual as that is the position in this matter," the lawyer added.
"We seek you to set aside the orders before you refer the matter to the presiding judge as there are issues of material non-disclosure, issues on jurisdiction and that the orders are hurting Amadi and her son," Nyaberi said.
In the affidavit filed in court, Amadi has distanced herself from being involved in the gold deal.
"No evidence has been tendered in support of the general allegations that I have fraudulently benefited from the alleged undelivered gold consignment," she states
"I confirm that no such sums relating to the impugned transaction were ever deposited to my personal bank accounts and petitioner has failed to tender any evidence that I was a beneficiary of the alleged fraud," Amadi adds in her affidavit.
Justice Majanja has however declined to temporarily set aside the freezing orders as sought by Amadi and her son, saying the application will be dealt with by justice Mabeya on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.
