The High Court has ordered the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to compensate an importer with over KSh 6.8 million after customs officers at the Port of Mombasa violated the company’s constitutional rights by unlawfully detaining and auctioning a horticultural cooling machine.
- •Greenboot Kenya Limited imported a fruit cooling chamber valued at over Sh 5.9 million in 2016, paid import duty and sought clearance through a licensed agent.
- •However, customs officials demanded an additional KSh 2.7 million, classifying the consignment as construction equipment despite the company’s submission of exemption certificates from three government agencies.
- •The High Court found that KRA officials ignored express instructions from their Nairobi headquarters and deliberately delayed clearance, before selling the machine through a public auction in 2017 without notifying the company, which only learned of the sale years later.
“In my humble view, the malice exhibited by the respondents’ customs officers is extreme and beyond. The deprivation of the petitioner’s property was a calculated criminal extortion concealed as lawful pursuit of the law,” Justice Lawrence Mugambi ruled.
The ruling cited violations of the company’s right to property, fair administrative action, and dignity under the Constitution. The judge described the agency’s conduct as a pattern of arbitrary demands, protracted inaction, intimidation, and unexplained procedural obstacles.
In addition to awarding compensation for the value of the equipment and the import duty, the court granted KSh750,000 in general damages for the unlawful detention and harassment of Greenboot’s director.
KRA defended its actions by asserting that they were in full compliance with the East African Community Customs Management Act, maintaining that the auction of Greenboot Kenya’s consignment was a consequence of the company’s failure to adhere to the stipulated timelines for clearing the goods.
The judge also refuted the KRA’s claim that the petition was merely a civil dispute, emphasizing the court’s crucial role in addressing constitutional violations stemming from the authority’s conduct.
