Nokia corporation is facing legal scrutiny after Kenyan company was allowed to prosecute it’s directors for illegal tax records.
Nokia’s tax records were recently investigated after a Nairobi court gave the right to do so. The company known as Technoservice ltd privately did their research and their findings could actually ruin Nokia as a company.
Technoservice filed a complaint stating that Nokia used the information in a case that was pending before the ICC Court of Arbitration pitting the two firms. However, the case was later withdrawn, according to court documents.
The complaints were filed with DCI but nothing was done about it and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) since December 2018 have taken no steps to prosecute Nokia or its agents.
Principal Magistrate Esther Kimilu said:
“Tax records are confidential, yet it would appear that the applicant’s tax filings were disclosed to the respondents or their representatives who were able to use the records in the ICC arbitration,”
She added:
“Tax records are confidential, yet it would appear that the applicant’s tax filings were disclosed to the respondents or their representatives who were able to use the records in the ICC arbitration,”
She added:
“It is therefore confounding why the DPP despite admitting of being aware of the complaint had never taken steps either to direct its investigations or in the alternative prosecuting it anyway,”
Nokia challenged the claims saying the filings were defective and that they were foreigners and therefore required to be served by diplomatic means.
It added that Technoservice was litigious and the case was a demonstration of its owner’s vindictive attitude against Nokia.
What is clear is that the conflict between the two companies is not something new as they had a separate case involving a breach of a partnership contract back in 2006. From what is happening now, the chaos is not likely to end any time soon.