Multichoice Kenya has won permission from the Court of Appeal to seek a Supreme Court review in a case involving criminal charges over a failed office block in Nairobi. The move comes after the company missed the original deadline to file for leave, but the court accepted its explanation for the delay.
The company told the appellate court that delays were caused by difficulties in obtaining guidance from its shareholder, MultiChoice Africa Holdings B.V, who was overseas, as well as exceptional personal circumstances affecting one of its main lawyers.
With the court’s approval, Multichoice can now ask the Supreme Court to examine a January 2025 ruling that allowed criminal prosecutions against architects and engineers to continue alongside civil litigation and arbitration.
The company maintains that the case raises questions of public importance, particularly about the limits of prosecutorial power and how Section 193A of the Criminal Procedure Code should be interpreted.
The dispute stems from the construction of a Sh895 million office block on Oloitoktok Road in Kileleshwa. Multichoice stopped the project after discovering structural issues, including sagging floors and cracks, raising concerns about safety.
The contractor later claimed that some professional reports had been altered, which triggered arbitration, civil claims, police investigations, and criminal charges against certain architects and engineers.
In 2022, those professionals approached the High Court, arguing that the criminal cases were being misused to influence parallel civil and arbitral proceedings.
The court rejected their petition, allowing the prosecutions to proceed. Multichoice then challenged the decision in the Court of Appeal, asserting that the criminal cases were unfairly pressuring a dispute that was already being handled through civil and arbitration channels.
The Court of Appeal, however, upheld the High Court ruling in January 2025. It said that pursuing criminal cases at the same time as civil litigation is allowed under Section 193A unless there is clear proof of abuse of authority or hidden motives, which the court found was not the case. “We are of the view that both the civil suit and the criminal proceedings can be pursued concurrently in this matter,” the judges stated.
With the latest ruling, Multichoice now has the opportunity to present its arguments to the Supreme Court and seek a final determination on the law governing simultaneous criminal and civil cases. The decision could have broader implications for how commercial disputes intersect with criminal law in Kenya.
