Tired of accusations, or playing clean, the Judge a lawyer Alexious Kamangila has been targeting in his anti-corruption crusade Justice Ken Manda has recused himself from the Salima Sugar company injunction case.
Kamangila who has attained social media celebrity status, accused Manda that he had granted the injunction against Salima Sugar inappropriately as the complainant was arrested in terms of mismanaging the company and failing to pay for their share contribution.
A letter, however, submitted to court shows that on 5th of December 2023 Salima Sugar confirmed the payment of US$ 2 390 296.00 for operation and maintenance of the factory from 2016 and that the amount would be paid within 30 days.
“We understand and accept that, if we are unable to remit the entire amount within thirty days you may proceed against us in appropriate court of law, we undertake to bear the cost of the same,” Apoorva Roy, identified as Acting Chief Executive Officer wrote.
Judge Manda in his ruling on Tuesday said the matter was a simple debt matter and that Salima Sugar did not dispute that it owed Mukteshwar Sugar Mills Ltd. They had made a commitment to pay the amount.
“Suffice to say that if there being an apparent admission of debt, then obviously, the defendant, as a limited company which follows good corporate governance, would have made provision for the admitted sum and set aside the same.
“The injunction in this instances “preserves” or “attaches” the admitted sum. More importantly, it is settled law that where it is eventually shown that an injunction was inappropriately obtained and that there is no justification at all for obtaining it, the defendant can claim damages from the claimant. Now if it is the defendant’s argument that they never made an admission of debt, then they can apply to be paid damages for being inconvenienced by the order of injunction,” ruled Manda.
He agreed with the claimants’ lawyers led by Burton Mhango that the Attorney General did not have sufficient interest to join the case as Government owned shareholding through the Green Belt Initiative which could have been the one asking to be added to be a party to proceedings.
This means the Courts need to identify another Judge to continue the matter or the Salima Sugar could proceed to appeal his final ruling on the matter.
Salima Sugar has been controversial public firm with issues of politicians, civil servants and company officials milking the company and the latest is K264 million worth of sugar that was released based on a false bank deposit slip and with no one from the company verifying the deposit.
