A Nairobi court has ordered a Sh 110 million fraud case against two ex-directors of Heritage Flowers Ltd and two other people to proceed for full hearing instead of being transferred to the Commercial Division.
In his ruling Milimani Principal Magistrate Paul Mutai said that “the law allows a criminal matter and a commercial matter to run parallel hence i am not convinced to withdraw the matter.”
The Magistrate also stated that during the decision to withdraw the criminal charges against two directors namely Shailesh Kumar Rai and his wife Ranjeeta Pandey Rai and two others namely Isaack Ikua, Chris Oyunge and Rosalia Blooms Limited, the complainant was not involved,
“The prosecution has accorded the right to charge or to terminate any criminal matter by the constitution but they must do it after the consent of the court. Making a decision to withdraw a criminal charge failing to inform the complainant was a mess up,” the Magistrate stated.
With that regard, he said that the victim in the matter was made a spectator, an action that would demean the scales of justice to both parties.
The court also noted that, the accused persons were charged on July 28, 2023, after the consent by Director of Public Prosecutions to charge them in a criminal court and the hearing commenced where two witnesses has already testified,
“Applying the withdrawal of the matter at this stage is not fair since the accused had taken a plea after the same office approved the charges. There is no damage to have a criminal and commercial proceedings happening at the same time,” the Magistrate said.
When the prosecution applied the matter to be withdrawn through a letter dated June 19, 2025, the complainant through his advocate objected to the decision and filed an application urging the court to dismiss the plea.
The court directed the hearing of the matter to proceed on February 12, 2026.
The five were charged with 9 counts of conspiracy to defraud, stealing by servants, money laundering and series of forgery.
They were charged with conspiracy to defraud Sh110,520,990 on diverse dates between September 2021 and August 2022 within Nairobi county in the republic of Kenya.
The said money is the property of Heritage Flowers Limited.
The court heard that the second accused person Ranjeeta Pandey Rai is the director of the company and the wife to the second accused Shailesh Kumar Rai who failed to appear before court on Friday for plea taking.
The accused persons also faced a series of forgery charges.
Shailesh Kumar Rai and Ranjeeta Pandey Rai forged the virtual minutes of Board of directors of Rosalia Blooms Limited dated February 19th 2022 and purported it to be genuine documents signed on the said date.
The accused further jointly forged a trust deed between Rosalia Blooms Limited as a trustee and Heritage Flowers Limited as a beneficiary purporting it to be a genuine document signed on September 26th 2021.
The hearing will proceed on February 12, 2026.