A Chinese contractor will have to part with Ksh55 million towards a company associated with former Cabinet Minister Maina Wanjigi over stolen murram soil.
A report by Business Daily n Monday, July 20, indicated that the Chinese firm, China Gansu International Corporation for Economic Technical Corporation Company, lost an appeal to have the court to have a judgement compelling it to pay the money set aside.
The former minister's company, Kitamaiyu Limited , was awarded the money after it sued the company accusing it of excavating murram soil from its land in Kiambu County without consent.
In the court documents, the company claimed that the contractor had carted away lorries of soil from the parcel in Ruiru.
The extraction, the company claimed, damaged the topography of the land.
After the initial ruling in April, the contractor had moved to court claiming that it was not aware of the suit and had learned of the fine through the media.
The company further argued that the award of the fine would greatly disrupt its operations.
The judge, however, ruled that the company had been given ample time to respond to the case as court papers had shown that it was served to the contractor's project manager.
"While the applicant has denied that there was ever service upon it, it has not produced before this court any evidence by the said project manager denying service of the suit papers. Further, the applicant has not in any way denied that the project manager is a principal officer in the company," stated the judge.
The High Court, in April, ordered the contractor to pay the money to the firm associated with businessman Maina Wanjig - Jimmy Wanjigi's father.
Kitamaiyu had told the court that it had been in charge of the land for over 29 years and produced a sales agreement dated November 23, 1989, to prove the ownership of the land in contention.
The firm further showed Justice Lucy Gacheru, who was presiding over the case, photographs of trucks on the property to further substantiate the case after the Chinese firm failed to show up in court.
