High Court judge David Majanja has recused himself from hearing further proceedings in a case filed by a British citizen against Chief Registrar of Judiciary Anne Amadi over an alleged Ksh 89 million gold fraud.
Justice Majanja recused himself from the case, stating that he could not continue hearing it since he is a member of the Judicial Service Commission, of which Amadi is the secretary.
“I am a member of JSC, where Amadi serves as secretary, and CRJ and I granted the order on the basis that the law firm Amadi & Associates Advocates was registered in her name.” I am aware that there are concerns about my bias and the impression I provide to members of the public. As a result, I decline to hear the case and refer it to High Court Commercial Division Presiding Judge Alfred Mabeya for a hearing on Wednesday morning,” Justice Majanja stated.
Following the judge’s recusal, Amadi and her son, Brian Ochieng, requested the court to lift the orders freezing their personal accounts awaiting the hearing and conclusion of the issue before Justice Mabeya, through lawyers Ochieng Oduol and Sam Nyaberi.
Oduol told the petitioner Demetrios Bradshaw obtained the freezing orders through deception, taking advantage of the ex-parte proceedings to mislead the court without full disclosure in the matter, while urging Justice Majanja to set aside the orders before the file could be transmitted to the Presiding Judge.
“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.
