Billionaire Kamlesh Pattni is back in the headlines after beating the state at its own game.
According to a Monday, November 11 report by Business Daily, the billionaire, who was at the center of the Goldenberg scandal, won a case against the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) regarding the scandal.
In the latest ruling delivered by the Court of Appeal, EACC was ordered to pay two firms associated with the businessman Ksh20.5 million after failing to prove that the money used to purchase the firms were proceeds from the Goldenberg scandal.
The agency was also ordered to settle interest for 15 years that the case had been in the court.
EACC, which was previously known as the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), had filed a petition seeking to have the two firms, Marshalls East Africa Ltd and Delphis Bank Ltd, to be placed under receivership.
Justices William Ouko, Asike Makhandia and Sankai ole Kantai, however, upheld a High Court decision which had earlier ruled that the money owed to the firms were valid.
"As we respectfully agree with the judge, we reiterate that there can be no doubt, from what we have said that the dispute was not only complex but also novel," ruled the judges.
KACC and the billionaire had reportedly settled the matter before it went to trial which compelled Pattni to seek compensation for legal bills to the tune of Ksh140.9 million.
Pattni's firms were among various others that were entangled in the Goldenberg scandal that cost the country up to Ksh103 billion in lost public funds.
The scandal was so massive, according to a report by Daily Nation, that it nearly crippled the country's economy leading to inflation, devaluation of the shilling.
So serious were the effects, as the paper reported, that some of the international donors totally cut funding to the then former President Daniel Moi's regime.
