Relief for Pakistani businessmen in work permit row
In a suit between KNUN and Murang’a, as well as its Public Service Board, the judge found that the CoG did not have the right to order the county employer to stop KNUN’s statutory deductions.
A Mombasa court has ruled that three Pakistani businessmen are entitled to have their work permits renewed, as long as they continue operating their business in Kenya and abide by its laws.
High Court Judge Eric Ogola also ordered immigration officials to issue Shabaz Khan, Saqib Shahbaz and Akhlaq Najam with a Class ‘G’ entry permit.
He noted that procedures related to the issuing of work permits had been breached.
The businessmen applied to renew their permits on March 5, 2019 and immigration officials claimed they had forwarded the requests to a permits panel.
The panel recommended that the applications be deferred after receiving adverse reports about the men’s activities in Kenya.
“However, no evidence was tendered to this court about the alleged adverse report and its contents have not been revealed,” Justice Ogola said.
businessmen, he said, had not been given an opportunity to defend themselves on allegations in the report.
The men told the court that they applied to renew their work permits in 2019 and paid Sh10,000 in fees but immigration officials declined to do so.
Instead, they were issued with special passes valid for three months, putting them at risk of deportation and losing their investments in Kenya.
They said they import and sell cars and have showrooms in Mombasa and Nairobi with vehicles valued at Sh250 million.
They also said they have several other investments in real estate worth Sh100 million and have paid over Sh34 million in taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Their lawyer Gikandi Ngibuini argued that immigration officials’ failure to renew the work permits without providing valid reasons was unconstitutional.
They rejected claims that they had defaulted on tax payments, saying no tax demand notice had been served on them.
Through the Attorney-General, immigration officials told the court that the trio had been issued with several notices to attend meetings it had called when they were reviewing their business activities.
Immigrations officials said the work permits panel’s proceedings were disrupted by Covid-19 and other factors.
The AG also said the businessmen had not complied with statutory and security checks.
The AG described the businessmen’s petition as premature and an abuse of the court process, arguing that they were using the court to avoid scrutiny of their business activities.
