Posted on February, 2, 2021 at 09:35 am
Consumer goods company, United Millers has lost an appeal seeking to reverse a decision sanctioning the destruction of close to 30,000 bags of sugar it imported three years ago.
A bench of three judges dismissed the appeal by the miller saying it lacked merit. The judges said the miller failed to demonstrate how by ordering the destruction of the sugar in September 2018, Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) acted arbitrarily.
“The court cannot be faulted for reaching this conclusion on account of capriciousness or unreasonableness. There was no proof that the 6th respondent (Anti-Counterfeit Agency) was an accredited body as well,” said judges Asike Makhandia, Patrick Kiage and Sankale ole Kantai.
The judges held that Kebs, in exercise of its statutory duty, took samples of sugar from the company and upon testing, it was found unfit for human consumption and ordered for its destruction.
The company moved to court after Kebs through a multi-agency team including Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Kenya Revenue Authority and Anti-Counterfeit Agency, seized 29,714 bags of sugar each weighing 50kg in 2018.
It moved to court seeking to quash a letter from Kebs, ordering the destruction of the sugar. According to United Millers, the decision infringed on its rights.
The court heard that the company was granted a licence to import sugar from Mauritius pursuant to the requirements of the Agriculture and Food Authority, Sugar Directorate on July 11, 2017. The company said it imported 997.7 tonnes of brown sugar having complied with all import procedures and requirements.
It said it obtained a Certificate of Conformity from South Africa, but Kebs ordered the seizure of the commodity and later ordered it to be destroyed.
United Millers further claimed that anti-counterfeit agency had written to it alleging that the sugar had been analysed by its staff and found to have conformed to Kebs’ standard.
Source: Business Daily