Azzuri Limited v George Kadenge Ziro & 5 others [2020] KEELC 3664 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Environment and Land Court stopped police investigations into a land title, ruling courts can halt criminal probes used to gain an unfair advantage in civil suits.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the Court can stop criminal investigations that are oppressive, vexatious or an abuse of process despite Section 193A of the Criminal Procedure Code
Yes - the Court exercised its power to stop the investigations into the title deed, holding them to be a roundabout way of having the civil suit determined in another forum.
The Court accepted that Section 193A allows civil and criminal proceedings to run concurrently, but relied on the Court of Appeal decision in Commissioner of Police & DCI vs Kenya Commercial Bank to hold that courts retain inherent power to interfere with investigations that are oppressive, vexatious, made in bad faith or intended to achieve ulterior motives. The timing of the complaint, over five years after the 2014 transaction and shortly after the Plaintiff closed its case, showed the investigation concerned the very same matters in issue in the suit.
Legal principles established
#- Although Section 193A of the Criminal Procedure Code permits concurrent civil and criminal proceedings, the Court's hands are not tied where criminal proceedings are shown to be oppressive, vexatious or aimed at aiding one party to steal a match against the other.
Court orders
#- 1.The application dated 2nd November 2019 granted in terms of Prayer No. 3, stopping investigations by DCI Malindi or any other investigative arm of the executive into the property or title Kilifi/Chembe Kibabamshe/356
- 2.Costs of the application in the cause
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Inherent power of the Court to prevent abuse of its process, exercised in a pending civil suit under the Environment and Land Court Act and Article 157(11) of the Constitution as discussed
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Azzuri Limited v George Kadenge Ziro & 5 others [2020] KEELC 3664 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2020). ELC Case No. 217 of 2014. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2020/3664/eng@2020-02-06
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.