Judge David Majanja of the High Court has withdrawn from hearing further arguments in the case brought by a British national against Chief Registrar of Judiciary Anne Amadi about an alleged Ksh89 million gold scam.
Justice Majanja withdrew from the case, stating that he could not continue hearing it because Amadi serves as the secretary of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which he is a member of.
“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.
After the judge withdrew, Amadi and her son Brian Ochieng urged the court to overturn the orders freezing their personal accounts until the hearing and resolution of the issue before Justice Mabeya through attorneys Ochieng Oduol and Sam Nyaberi.
Oduol told the petitioner Demetrios Bradshaw obtained the freezing orders through deception as he took advantage of the ex-parte proceedings to mislead the court without full disclosure in the matter. He urged Justice Majanja to reverse the orders before the file could be forwarded to the presiding 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.
