Former head of Nokia in case protest
By Nancy Gitonga, June 16, 2021
Rajeev Suri, the former chief executive officer of Nokia has opposed the representation of special state prosecutor Taib Ali Taib in a case pending before the High Court.
Suri also opposed representation by Anjarwalla & Khanna LLP, saying senior partners in the law firm had acted in cases pitting Nokia and TechnoService Ltd, hence privy to confidential information.
His protests came after Nokia and its former directors and lawyers moved to the High Court to stop criminal proceedings brought against them by TechnoService for allegedly obtaining tax information of a Kenyan company for use at an international court.
Suri said Taib is a proxy of Anjarwalla & Khanna in the purported representation of Nokia Corporation.
“Considering its international repute as a well-known multinational telecommunication and information technology company, it would be imperative that the orders of stay are issued to prevent the further perpetuation of abuse of the process of court,” the petition before the High Court reads.
Nokia and TechnoService have been battling in various courts and late last year, the Kenyan company was allowed to privately prosecute the multinational company together with its officials and lawyers.
TechnoService said Nokia intended to use the information for purposes of defeating justice in a case that was pending before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Helsinki, Finland.
It is alleged that Nokia and its agents obtained the information from Registrar of Companies and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) between September 2018 and March 2019 as Nokia asked for security of costs from the Kenyan company, before the arbitration case proceeds. The matter was later withdrawn.
Techno Service was allowed to privately prosecute Nokia and its bosses with 11 counts including conspiracy to fabricate evidence, making a false document, perjury and subordination.
Others to be prosecuted include Aapo Saarikivi and Roschier Attorneys limited for allegedly illegally obtaining tax information as well information on TechnoService from the Companies Registry.
The case will be mentioned on June 30 this year for further directions before the new judge.