- The High Court also dismissed an application the orders sought to have his TV license bank, saying the petitioners ought to have exhausted all the legal channels with Communication Authority before coming to court.
Image: FILE
Pastor Ezekiel Odero on Monday suffered a blow after the High Court in Mombasa dismissed his application seeking orders to unfreeze his bank accounts.
Last week Monday, the Director of Criminal Investigations obtained orders from the Milimani magistrate's court to be allowed to investigate accounts operated by Pastor Ezekiel, his New Life Prayer Centre and Church and Kilifi International School over alleged money-laundering claims.
The Milimani magistrate's court issued an order forbidding withdrawal of transactions with respect to the listed bank accounts held at Cooperative, NCBA, Equity, KCB and HFC banks.
On Monday, High Court judge dismissed Pastor Ezekiel’s application seeking orders to quash the decision by the Milimani magistrate's court and all its proceedings, consequential orders and directives in relation to his bank accounts.
Mombasa High Court judge Olga Sewe said the DCI had obtained an order from the Milimani court, therefore, it was only appropriate for him to file for a review of the ruling or appeal against it at Nairobi’s Milimani High Court.
“Accordingly, the prayer sought to stop the freezing of the accounts has been overtaken by events and therefore untenable,” she ruled.
In his application dated May 8, 2023, Pastor Ezekiel also urged the Mombasa High Court to bring the case from Nairobi to Mombasa, arguing that a High Court exercises supervisory jurisdiction over all subordinate courts.
His lawyers, led by Danstan Omari, had termed the Nairobi magistrate court orders as “illegal, unconstitutional, and obtained without material disclosure of what had been transpiring”.
However, Justice Sewe ruled that her court cannot usurp supervisory powers over a court in Nairobi, which is out of her jurisdiction. She said a High Court with such powers is the one in Milimani law courts.
“It is therefore anomalous for the petitioner seeking to invoke the supervisory jurisdiction over the Milimani magistrate's court in the manner proposed in the application,” she said.
“I, therefore, take the view the second application is entirely misconceived and therefore untenable and if anything ought to have been brought by a way of revision in a separate cause of action.”
She said the revision should be sought from the Milimani law courts.
“I must refrain from commenting on the correctness, legality and propriety of the orders of the Nairobi’s Milimani magistrate court,” Sewe said.
Pastor Ezekiel, who is being investigated for several serious offences that include murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalisation, genocide, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud and money laundering, is out on a Sh3 million bond or an alternative of Sh1.5 million cash bail.
However, he is yet to be charged officially.
Pastor Ezekiel also filed another application dated May 3, 2023, seeking to stop the Communications Authority of Kenya from suspending a TV station-World Evangelism TV that is operated by his church.
In his petition, Pastor Ezekiel argued that a letter from CAK dated April 27 communicating the decision to suspend the TV license was illegal and unconstitutional.
He also asked for an order to quash the CAK letter of suspension and sought reinstatement of the license to World Evangelism TV.
Lady Justice Sewe however threw out the application, saying that Pastor Ezekiel had failed to exhaust all the laid down legal channels in matters concerning the issuance of TV licenses.
“The CAK had listed about 14 violations by World Evangelism TV and notified the petitioner that the license issued shall be suspended within 45 days if they fail to respond. A show-cause letter had also been written to the church, therefore, the suspension of the TV license is yet to occur,” she ruled.
She also ruled that the petitioner can appeal a decision by CAK to its dispute tribunal before the matter is brought to the High Court.
“There is no indication the petitioner paid attention to these provisions of dispute resolution mechanism provided for in the law and that mechanism must be exhausted before approaching the High Court. Therefore, it is apparent that the application was prematurely filed taking into consideration the doctrines of exhaustion,” she said.
The High Court however issued an order barring the police from interfering with the activities at the New Life Prayer Centre and Church.
Justice Sewe said the state had proved before the court that the church had not been denied the right to worship and security deployed at those premises from not being construed as a denial of rights.
“The prayer has been granted and required no further deliberation and as on May 7 the member of that church congregated without any problem,” she said.
The matter will be mentioned on May 29.