Friday, July 27, 2012

Ahmednasir blames law firm for woes over JSC appointment


Ahmednasir blames law firm for woes over JSC appointment

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A JSC commissioner yesterday accused a rival law firm of being behind the recent attacks on him which he claimed were aimed at removing him from the commission. Ahmednasir Abdullahi said the firm of Ochieng, Onyango, Ohaga and Kibet advocates and some of its clients had written various etters to the Law Society of Kenya alleging he was not a qualified lawyer. He said the aim of these letters was to derail his appointment to the JSC. “People have been writing to the Law Society of Kenya when I was elected as commissioner in the JSC. All complaints originated from your law firm,” Ahmednasir told lawyer Ochieng Oduol.
Giving his evidence before High court Judge Alfred Mabeya, Ahmednassir said there was no issue pending at the LSK concerning his admission as an advocate. “I have practised for the last 18 years and I have no disciplinary issues raised against me. I even have a letter to show for it,” he added. Questions about his pupillage (apprenticeship) and appointment as an advocate arose while he was being cross-examined in a case in which he is seeking a Sh38 million taxation fee from the National Bank of Kenya. The issue in dispute is how much of the fee is payable to Ahmednassir’s law firm.
It is alleged that the NBK had instructed them to recover money from a daughter of former President Moi and other borrowers which they did. The amount recovered from Dorcas Moi was Sh100 million. The witness stated that during Moi’s regime, NBK dispersed a lot of ‘political loans’ to various individuals and it had problems recovering it.
Oduol who is representing the bank, attributed the current dispute to what he said was Ahmedasir's 'unethical professionalism.' He also Ahmednasir of 'unjustly enriching himself.' “The present suit has been filed in adherence of abuse of process. It has been founded on an illegality,” said Oduol. But Ahmednasir objected to these claims stating that the bank had deprived him of his fees for the last ten years. "How could I have enriched myself out of that?", he posed.
Asked whether he responded to a letter written by Osundwa Advocates, he said “I replied but not point by point.” Ahmednasir said he had not seen a complaint by the advocate against him but only one made by Brian Yongo. “If you are referring to a complaint brought by Brian Yongo, I am aware of it. An advocate called Osundwa was acting for him. The complaint alleged that I forged my certificate of admission but he later withdrew it!” he said.
Regarding his pupillage, Nassir told the court that he did his apprenticeship with Peter L. Simani who was the sole proprietor of the legal firm which had offices at the fourth floor of Rehema House. Ahmednasir said he was with the firm from May to December 1990 before he left to enroll with the Kenya School of Law in January 1991.
NBK had been hired by the bank to help it recover some Sh1.4 billion which it was owed. It is alleged that the bank asked the lawyer to accept a certain fee policy in the recovery matter. But the commissioner filed a taxation cause after it failed to pay the fees. NBK offered him Sh3 million but he declined saying they were entitled to more than the amount being offered.

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