Betting firm MozzartBet has gone to court seeking to reverse a court decision that declared part of their money as proceeds of money laundering.
In a ruling last month, Justice Esther Maina ordered the firm to forfeit Ksh302 million to the State after it was found that the money was part of a money-laundering scheme supported by payments through M-Pesa accounts.
In the renewed suit, MozzartBet now say that the money was meant for the purchase of a software in the upgrade of its betting business. Part of the money seized by the state, Ksh256 million, had already been paid for the software, according to the firm.
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According to the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), the money was not generated from betting activities, rather it came from accounts some belonging to Mozzartbet to accounts associated with the shareholders.
“Should its appeal succeed, the interested party (MozzartBet) will face serious, potentially insurmountable, hurdles recovering them, given, what is a matter of public notoriety, the process of recovering judgments against the government and its agencies,” Mozzartbet said in the application.
“As a first instance court, which is not infallible and given that the interested party has a right to appeal, this court has got both the jurisdiction and in appropriate case, a duty to preserve the subject matter of such an appeal by granting such interim relief as may be appropriate.”
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The company alleged that it had paid Kimaco Connections for a software, which the latter subcontracted another firm — Open Skies Management Services.
Kimaco Connections is owned by Peter Kiilu, while Open Skies Management Services is owned by Zimbabwean Emmanuel Charumbira who is also a shareholder of Mozzartbet.
Kimaco Connections Wired at least Ksh242 million to Open Skies Management Services, after receiving millions from MozzartBet’s paybill number 290059.
MozzartBet sent a total Ksh256 million within five days to Kimaco Connections, the highest being Ksh50 million and the lowest being Ksh1.8 million.
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Kimaco Connections moved Ksh150 million to a fixed deposit account and left a balance of Ksh101 million. Some of the money was also wired to Pescom and Power Energy.
MozzartBet Kenya Ltd is owned by Loncar Koviljka, a Serbian, Zimbabwean Charumbira and Musa Sirma, a former MP.
The money frozen by the court includes Ksh251 million in an account at Diamond Trust Bank, Ksh50 million at Cooperative Bank, and Ksh2.4 million at NBCA Bank.
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