- The court heard that the parent company in Rwanda Stay Online Limited Rwanda had a board of directors’ resolution on April 1, 2012 to expand its operations in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
- It was agreed that each jurisdiction would open a local stay online limited entity and that it would appoint a local director in each jurisdiction.
Image: DOUGLAS OKIDDY
A Rwandese investor on Tuesday narrated to court how a Kenyan businessman has allegedly declined to release an e-commerce company he had tasked him to register in Kenya.
Desire Muhinyiza took to the witness stand and told Justice Alfred Mabeya that owing to the business working environment in Kenya, he recruited Kirimi Koome to be the representative of Stay Online Limited (SOL) in Kenya.
He said he tasked him with registering the firm locally on account of the legal requirements to conduct business in Kenya and the mandatory requirement of having a Work Permit and a regularized Immigration status in Kenya to conduct business.
While Koome has contended that he is the sole owner of the company, Muyihunza explained that he was only employed as SOL Kenya’s proxy owner to beat the complexities of registering a business by foreigners.
The court heard that the parent company in Rwanda Stay Online Limited Rwanda had a board of directors’ resolution on April 1, 2012 to expand its operations in Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.
It was agreed that each jurisdiction would open a local stay online limited entity and that it would appoint a local director in each jurisdiction.
In the resolution of April 1, 2023, Koome Kirimi was assigned as the Local Representative and one Thiery Kamanzi as the Local Representative in Rwanda.
Koome was introduced to Desire by Patrick Gakuba, an e-commerce manager at Equity Bank Limited, Rwanda. Gakuba and Desire had a working relationship. So he trusted his word.
Desire said Gakuba told him Koome was a dependable person and that he would help him set up the Kenyan company. That is how Koome came into the picture.
He told Justice Mabeya that they had to inject 29,000 US dollars (Sh5 million) which was transferred from Stay Online Rwanda to United Bank Africa Kenya.
It was a requirement to run the E-commerce company. He said UBA bank required collateral to hold onto before they activate the same.
They had three accounts with them in which Desire and Koome were both signatories. Monies held in the account are approximately Sh400 million which the court has since frozen pending determination of the case.
“At first, UBA Bank required me to deposit $ 100,000 as the initial capital requirement. But we negotiated the figure to $ 29,0000,” he said.
In his bid to prove ownership of the firm, Desire told the court they later brought in technologies and infrastructure that would help foreign investments come to Kenya via their platform.
“Koome did not provide any technical expertise to the company,” he alleged.
Desire said most of the monies held in the said bank accounts were monies payable to the merchants for the goods and commodities they had sold on the said platform.
He claimed at the beginning of June 2023, Koome began sending blackmail messages via WhatsApp demanding money without any justification.
He demanded that he be paid 3 per cent of all the monies held in the company’s bank accounts.
“This was not possible as these are the Merchant's monies which have to be applied in an accountable manner,” Desire said.
But things started getting out of hand threatening to stall the operations of the firm.
Desire asked Koome to voluntarily resign and transfer all his shares to the Chief Operations Officer of Stay Online Ltd, Uganda Ambrose Wamari. He alleged that Koome in turn demanded 20,000 USD for his facilitation service rendered.
Desire said the money was wired to his account.
“I agreed to pay Koome the 20,000 US dollars he had demanded for his facilitation. It was wired to his Equity Bank Meru branch. It came from the company's account,” he said.
But Koome, according to Desire once again demanded 100,000 dollars (Sh15.4 million) as ‘tax provisions’ which were later sent.
“The company management under my authority decided to initiate a transfer of 100,000 USD to his account domiciled at Equity Bank Meru to avoid disruption and allow continuity of operations as we work to find a long-term solution to this problem,” Desire said.
Desire now wants the court to issue an order directing the Registrar of Companies to remove Koome as a signatory to the company’s bank accounts at UBA.
Also sought is a mandatory order directing Koome to refund the 100,000 dollars allegedly obtained and a permanent order retraining Koome from conducting any transaction on Stay Online limited bank accounts at UBA United Bank of Africa.
Hearing continues.