Gilded Ties: The Anne Amadi Gold Scandal
A court has frozen the bank accounts of Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi and her law firm. Which are at the center of a gold scandal case. In which a British citizen claims to have been defrauded of more than Sh100 million in US dollars in 2021.
Bruton Gold Trading LLC. A Dubai-based gold trading company, has filed a lawsuit against Ms. Amadi, her son Brian Ochieng, two other Kenyans, and a Liberian citizen. Claiming to have lost $742,206 between September 22 and October 21, 2021.
According to an affidavit submitted by the trader, Mr. Demetrios Bradshaw. The funds were intended for the purchase of 1,500 kilograms of gold bars. But the precious metal was never delivered to the Dubai purchaser.
The other defendants in the case are Andrew Njenga Kiarie, Kikanae Topoti, Daniel Ndegwa Kangara aka Daniel Muriithi, and Liberian passport holder Edward Taylor aka Mboronda Seyenkulo Sakor.
Mr. Ochieng (Amadi’s son), Mr. Kiarie, and Mr. Topoti are attorneys at Amadi & Associates. While Mr. Kangara represented Universal Gold Logistics Limited (UGL) and Mr. Sakor was reportedly the gold’s seller.
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Judge David Majanja of the High Court declared the case urgent on Thursday. And froze several bank accounts belonging to Ms. Amadi and the law firm pending the outcome of the case.
The order stated, “That pending the hearing and determination of the application herein, the honorable court be pleased to order that accounts numbers *** domiciled at ABC Bank, Green House Mall, Nairobi, in the name of Amadi & Associates, (and any other bank account registered to or held by Amadi & Associates), and no funds whatsoever be withdrawn from the accounts without the express order of the court.”
Mr. Bradshaw states in his affidavit that he entered into a transaction with. And paid cash to UGL through its legal representatives, Amadi & Associates, in September 2021.
Mr. Kangara then sent him paperwork indicating that the gold had been exported and would arrive in Dubai shortly. He was provided with a flight and shipment number.
When he contacted the airline, he was informed that no such shipment had been sent aboard the flight.
When he inquired with Mr. Kangara and Mr.
The payments were then made. And he was informed that approximately 200 kilograms of gold would be exported on October 22, 2021.
Investigation
However, according to Mr. Bradshaw, no gold was ever exported.
Mr. Sakor then informed him of the court order prohibiting the transfer of the gold to him.
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Mr. Bradshaw later discovered that the suit had been filed by one of the attorneys from the same firm. But was subsequently withdrawn, and that the order that had been sent to him differed from the court’s actual order.
He then filed a police report, which investigated the incident.
Investigations revealed that Mr. Ochieng and one of his partners at the law firm, Mr. Kiarie, withdrew the deposited funds.
Mr. Bradshaw claims in his lawsuit that Ms. Amadi and the three attorneys. Acting on behalf of the firm and in their capacities, as well as Mr. Kangara and Mr. Taylor, illegally obtained the money from him.
He wants them to be required to return the money, plus interest and the cost of the lawsuit.
Mr. Bradshaw states that Ms. Amadi opened the account into which the money was deposited.
As evidence, he attaches a letter Ms. Amadi wrote to the bank requesting the opening of US dollar and Kenyan shilling accounts.
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In a letter to the bank dated June 9, 2020, titled “Request to open a client account”, Ms. Amadi requests the opening of an attorney’s client account at the bank. Since leaving private practice, I am no longer required to hold a practicing certificate. Nonetheless, I have designated Brian O. Amadi (ID No….) and Andrew Njenga Kiarie (ID No….) as authorized signatories for the aforementioned account… We would like to open accounts in both Kenyan shillings and U.S. dollars. Both account signatories shall be required to sign the account mandate.”
Also included in the court documents is a letter from the Law Society of Kenya, dated March 7, 2022, which states, “We confirm that, according to our records, Kimani James Kinyanjui, Kiarie Andrew Njenga, Kinoti Dennis Murithi, and Amadi Brian Ochieng have declared themselves to be associates of Amadi & Associates.”
A certificate of registration from the Business Registration Services, dated August 23, 2022, states that the law firm Amadi & Associates was registered on November 9, 2012 and that Anne Atieno Amadi was its owner.
Mr. Bradshaw states that investigations into the case revealed that Mr. Ochieng and Mr. Ndegwa withdrew the funds received through the law firm in cash.
Simply put, the defendants, in this case, orchestrated a fraudulent scheme to obtain money from the plaintiff, according to Murage Juma & Company, the plaintiff’s legal representation.
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After learning that the matter was being investigated, Mr. Ochieng allegedly convened a meeting and pledged to repay the money plus the company’s losses, according to Mr. Bradshaw.
On May 10 of last year, the law firm wrote a letter to the trader’s advocates and enclosed two $9,000 checks as a commitment.
The attorneys for Mr. Bradshaw accepted the checks on the assumption that the full amount would be refunded and requested a settlement proposal for the remaining balance.
In the complaint, Mr. Bradshaw asserts that Ms. Amadi, during telephone conversations, offered to clear the debt within six months, but this proposal was rejected due to the lack of security.
The case was heard ex parte, which means that neither the defendants nor their attorneys were present, and the defendants have not yet filed their defenses.
Justice Majanja ordered the case to be discussed on May 23.
Gilded Ties: The Anne Amadi Gold Scandal
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