Man at the centre of Sh500m maize case caught up in mining licence controversy

Mr Jacob Juma, the man thrust into the spotlight for trying to seize the National Cereals and Produce Board storage silos and the strategic grain reserves over contested debts, has again made news over the cancellation of mining licences earlier issued to a firm in which he has an interest.

The company, Cortec Mining Kenya Ltd, claims it has discovered nobium, a rare earth mineral, worth trillions of shillings, in deposits in Kwale County.

Mr Juma has been an active player in the dubious business of hoarding and speculating in mining licences.

On Monday, Mining cabinet secretary Najib Balala cancelled 42 licences suspected to have been awarded irregularly to individuals he described as speculators and briefcase companies.

Mr Juma is a director of Cortec, the entity behind recent claims of discovery of billions of dollars worth of nobium in Mrima Hills, Kwale.

The ownership of the company is the subject of litigation after a local company, Kingdom Minerals, moved to court arguing that it was the original owner of Cortec Kenya Mining Ltd.

The defendants in the case which is still before the High Court at Milimani are Cortec Mining Kenya, Cortec Pty of the UK, Sterling Capital, Mr David Anderson and Mr Donald O’Sullivan.

Mr Juma is also a director of another mining company, Pwani Minerals, which has made a claim on three mineral blocks in Kilifi county considered to have deposits of titanium and rare minerals.

Until last late last year, the licence for the three blocks was in the hands of a Canadian company, Titanium International. When the Canadians sold their assets in Kenya to Base Titanium of Australia, the right over the Kilifi Blocks were transferred to the Australian company.

However, in December last year, then Environment minister Chirau Mwakwere issued a gazette notice cancelling all the Kilifi Titanium licences. Base Titanium went to the High Court where it got an injunction against Mr Mwakwere.

During the injunction hearings, Mr Juma claimed he had an interest in the Kilifi titanium licences and that the injunction sought was likely to undermine his interest in the blocks.

The case is pending in court.

According to documents from the registrar of companies, Pwani Minerals was registered in August 2012. The directors are Mr Juma, Ms Christine Kananu and Mr Julius Muvea.

Mineral rights are traditionally awarded on a first-come, first-served basis and by discretionary allocation, making it easy for politically-connected individuals to get licences.

Mr Juma is also caught in disputes outside the mining sector.

In one case, delays by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the acquisition of prime property in Nairobi has raised eyebrows at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The two-year-old case revolves  around a dispute between Mr Juma, who is a director of Juma Construction, and two businessmen — Ashok  Shah and Hiten Kumar — who claim they were illegally dispossessed of the six-acre plot in  Westlands.

Mr Juma’s ownership to the land was discredited at the High Court after a judge ruled in favour of the businessmen, saying they were the bona fide owners. The court also ordered investigations to unearth how Mr Juma came into possession of  the purported letters of allotment.

While ruling against Mr Juma and in the businessmen’s favour, the court had found that he had failed to produce any form of payment receipts of his purported allocation and had  not explained how he came to be in possession of a grant for LR 18485 measuring 7.389 hectares when the letter of allotment read 6.0 hectares.

On February 4, 2003, Mr Juma was charged with forging official documents of a multi-million-shilling tender for the repair of the Kimaeti-Mungatsi-Buyofu Road in Busia district between 1998 and 1999.

He was charged alongside three senior government officials and the case went to a full hearing before the anti-corruption court. However, he was acquitted after the court found that “he had no case to answer.”

Chief magistrate Rose Ougo ruled that no witness had established that the documents cited in the case were false as alleged by the prosecution. She also ruled that there was no intention to defraud proved.

She said since some witnesses were not called to testify, there was not enough evidence to put him on his defence and acquitted him under section 210 of the criminal procedure code.

The National Bank of Kenya (NBK) has also taken Juma  to court demanding Sh8 million borrowed from the institution to provide working capital for a construction business.

In the suit, Juma Construction Company Limited is sued jointly with  Juma, Grace Wakhungu, John Walukhe and Agnetta Simuli, who are alleged to have provided guarantees to secure the Sh10 million loan from the bank between April, 2001 and June, 2006.

The contractor allegedly defaulted in payment and the bank exercised its statutory power of sale and disposed of the asset, LR No 12610/26 owned by Ms Wakhungu to recover the borrowed amount and accrued interest.

But following the sale of the property by public auction, the bank claims it only recovered Sh2.6 million, leaving a deficit of Sh8.2 million. NBK now wants Juma Construction to meet the shortfall arising from the sale of the asset.

The firm was blacklisted in 2000 as having been involved in shoddy work by minister for Roads Andrew Kiptoon.

Mr  Kiptoon singled out Intex Construction, Krishan Behal and Juma Construction companies as those under scrutiny.

He said the companies and engineers who inspected the work would be disciplined. The companies were investigated for receiving payment without completing projects.

Mr Juma also featured in a case involving the Sh500 million debt that the High Court ordered the National Cereals and Produce Board to pay him.

A parliamentary committee investigating the matter was shocked when a permanent secretary read a letter that also dragged the names of powerful individuals into the suspicious 2004 deal.

The letter read to the Parliamentary Investment Committee featured names of Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo, former Finance permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua, former Attorney General Amos Wako and lawyer Ahmednassir Abdulahi.

Also mentioned was the daughter of former Vice-President Moody Awori who was listed as one of the directors of Erad Suppliers, the company that was awarded the penalty against NCPB.

Erad had a contract to supply NCPB with maize, but the deal was cancelled before any maize was delivered.

However, the High Court in Nairobi ruled that the cereals board had breached a contract and ordered it to compensate Errad. NCPB has since paid Sh236 million, with a pending balance of Sh264 million.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is currently investigating the matter.

Reported by Jaindi Kisero and Vincent Agoya