NAIROBI: Dubai Bank Chairman Hassan Zubedi has defended his move to disobey a court order requiring the lender to surrender Sh197 million. Zubed, who is facing contempt charges at the Mombasa High Court, said the bank did not have the capacity to pay the sum and asked the court to pardon him.
He said this on Wednesday before Justice Mary Kasango, while explaining why he did not deposit the amount on August 2, 2013, in a case where Kwanza Estate official Geodfrey Asanyo has sued the bank seeking to be paid over Sh197 million.
Asanyo allegedly deposited Sh167 million as a condition to get a loan from the bank but says the lender failed to honour the deal. “I was caught in a dilemma over whether to deposit the money in the bank and put the bank in problems, or wait for the review of the orders which my lawyer Stephen Mwenesi had applied for,” said Zubedi.
During the hearing, Justice Kasango stopped Zubedi from introducing the issues of the money deposited by Kwanza Estate in the bank as a condition to be given the loan. The judge made the order after Kwanza Estate lawyer Paul Butti objected to Zubedi raising the issues touching on the loan, arguing those were matters which would be canvassed during the hearing of the main suit.
Zubedi admitted if the bank deposited Sh197 million with the court as directed, it could collapse and therefore sought for the review of the order. Before the contempt proceedings were initiated, Kwanza Estate lawyer Philip Nyachoti successfully applied for temporary injunction in January 2013, stopping the bank from selling its 10 prime plots at Watamu in Kilifi County which it had deposited as collateral.
However, before the interparties hearing, Kwanza Estate successfully applied to have the bank surrender the Sh167 million it had deposited plus interest, all totaling Sh197 million Justice Muya, who heard the application on August 8, 2013, ordered the bank to deposit the money within 45 days. But while defending himself, Zubedi said he delayed in honoring the court order because he was consulting his lawyer who advised him that he had applied for a review.
