The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has effectively been shut down after the High Court froze its bank accounts.
In his ruling, Justice Patrick Otieno ordered for the freezing of the authority’s accounts at the Citi Bank, Equity Bank and National Bank.
This comes after the court ruled in favour of Modern Holdings (EA), a Tanzanian company known for distributing Masafi energy drinks and fruit juice.
The company reportedly brought into the port 21 containers from Dubai between December 2007 and January 2008.
Modern Holdings (EA) argued the move to transfer its containers to Makupa was against the law.
According to The Star, the containers arrived at the port during the period when the nation was experiencing post election violence, hence they could not be cleared as usual.
After consulting Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), KPA’s officials opted to transfer the said containers to Makupa in order to ease congestion at the port.
Six containers were later cleared with waivers but the remaining 15 containers took too long to be cleared until their content spoilt.
Justice Otieno awarded the company Sh890 million and an additional Sh1 billion to cover for interest and losses incurred by the business.
The hearing of an appeal by KPA has taken longer than expected after it filed a case in November 2016 at the court of appeal.