Lawyers representing Atta Limited have accused auctioneers of hastening the sale of a consignment of 13,196 metric tons of wheat in contravention of the laid down auctioning procedures.
Atta is embroiled in a court case over the auctioning of its wheat that was stored by Gulf Bulk Handlers and later auctioned for failure to pay storage and custom charges to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) in 2017 after their bank failed to finance obligation as agreed.
Atta got a reprieve when KRA gave them a 30 per cent waiver on accrued custom charges.
They also engaged Grain Bulk to be given time to look for alternative funding to clear storage charges but they went ahead to engage the auctioneers to auction the wheat to get storage charges.
In the case at Mombasa High Court, Atta wants compensation of Sh730 million from Grain Bulk for selling their consignment stored at their silos.
During a cross-examination on Thursday, Peter Simiyu of Beyond Auctioneers by Atta Lawyers led by Miller Bwire was at pain to explain if the notice placed on a newspaper to auction 13,196 metric tons of wheat was procedurally.
Simiyu acknowledged that the notice issued was short and more time was needed before they auctioned the wheat.
[One of the managers of Atta Limited. Photo/Ahmed Omar/March, 03, 24].
The first witness also failed to provide the exact amount of wheat that was auctioned prompting Atta lawyers to seek the intervention of the presiding judge Florence Macharia for their questions to be answered.
The hearing of the case will continue on 14 April.