Companies
Brookside moves to court to block auction by Mohammed Ali
Tuesday July 11 2023
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali at Parliament Building Nairobi on November 16, 2022. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
Brookside Dairy Limited has accused Nyali MP Mohammed Ali of unlawfully obtaining warrants to seize the firm’s assets, including dairy cows in a bid to recover a debt of Sh500,000.
The MP was allowed by the High Court last week to auction Brookside cows and a milk cooling plant over the Sh500,051 debt arising from a defamation case.
Read: MP gets nod to sell Brookside cows, cooler over Sh500,000
The company, however, says in a case filed on Tuesday under a certificate of urgency that Mr Ali was aware that Brookside was not satisfied with the costs awarded to him after he won a lawsuit the firm had filed against him and had filed an appeal.
Read: Nyali MP wants Brookside Dairy lawsuit dismissed
The firm’s company secretary Jacob Ombogi says in the application that the appeal came up for mention on June 21 and the High Court directed the matter be mentioned on November 6 for further directions.
“…the 1st respondent has deliberately and unlawfully extracted a certificate of costs dated 23rd May 2023, which he knows or ought to know is null and void ab initio (void from the start),” Mr Ombogi says in the application.
The court on July 3, allowed the outspoken legislator to instruct auctioneers to attach assets of the company, which is associated with the family of former President Uhuru Kenyatta over the half a million-shilling debt.
Mr Ali was awarded the costs in November 2022 after a petition filed by the milk processing company, seeking to gag him and for damages for business losses.
Mr Ali’s lawyer Adrian Kamotho instructed Fisra Auctioneers to attach and sell the company’s assets through public auction and recover the amount.
Brookside says Mr Ali was aware of the appeal when he “unlawfully applied to the court for warrants of attachment.”
The auctioneers have listed for attachment 40 dairy cows valued at Sh150,000 and a cooling plant valued at Sh400,000 in Mundoro, Gatundu South in Kiambu County.
The auctioneers have also listed computers valued at Sh20,000 as well as seven reception seats (Sh6,000), office desks (Sh30,000), office chairs (Sh20,000) and printers (Sh14,000).
