Court orders KRA to release tea consignment in Mombasa
High Court judge ruled that the petitioner’s constitutional rights had not been violated.
The High Court in Mombasa has ordered the Kenya Revenue Authority to release 82 containers of tea it had seized from a tea buying and export company.
Justice John Mativo also quashed a decision by KRA Commissioner-General Githii Mburu to detain the cargo, which belongs to Cup of Joe Ltd.
The consignment was held at the Regional Logistics Centre in Changamwe, Mombasa.
The court also dismissed Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki’s request to have the consignment forfeited to the state, destroyed or reshipped back to the country of origin.
Justice Mativo ruled that the AG and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) overstepped their mandate by purporting to play the role of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) in seeking to have the consignment of tea destroyed.
“It should be recalled that the multi-agency team that participated in the verification exercise included officers from Kebs, DCI, KRA among others and the consignment was cleared for release,” Justice Mativo said.
The court noted that during the hearing of the case, a police officer said the DCI bypassed the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and brought charges against the company’s director.
“This stunning revelation is a turning point in this case. It manifests a blatant breach of the Constitution and a clear admission by the DCI that they acted ultra vires (beyond legal powers) to his constitutional and statutory mandate,” he said.
The judge allowed Cup of Joe’s request for its consignment to be released, saying that since the DCI’s actions were illegal, the decision to detain the tea was unlawful too.
“To the extent that the tea was imported for blending, which is uncontroverted, then by dint of the Tea Industry Regulations, the pre-import authorisation was not a requirement,” Justice Mativo said.
Cup of Joe had said it imported the tea from Iran and Vietnam for blending and export to overseas markets.
It says that on October 5 last year, Chai Trading Co Ltd applied to KRA to be allowed to move the tea into their bonded warehouse for blending, packaging and re-export.
KRA approved the request on October 12.
“On November 17, the applicant sent 30 trucks to ferry the tea but they were turned away by Mr Thomas Karubee, who communicated that the Commissioner-General had given instructions that the tea should not be released,” the company told the court.
It said no written reasons were provided for turning away the trucks.
It also said that tea is a perishable commodity and it was bound to deteriorate due to prolonged exposure to the humid conditions in Mombasa.
Cup of Joe claimed that it had suffered financial losses from the continued detention of its tea.
