Former Uchumi CEO Jonathan Ciano has been freed over fraud charges related to the Sh. 895 million 2014 Uchumi Rights Issue.
In making the ruling, Justice George Odunga found that Mr Ciano had been taken through a faulty disciplinary process, saying that the regulator had not furnished the former Uchumi boss with the required information in time to enable him prepare for his defence.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) had based its charges on a forensic audit report by KPMG, which found, among others, that Mr Ciano and his wife were among Uchumi’s largest vegetable suppliers.
The regulator had hit Mr Ciano with a Sh. 5 million penalty for the loss that his actions were deemed to have caused shareholders and sought to seize some Sh. 13.5 million as proceeds of crime because he failed to declare a conflict of interest to the Uchumi board.
Mr Ciano had claimed in the court documents that he was presumed guilty even before trial, a decision that contravened his right to be heard.
But the CMA held that it had accorded Mr Ciano enough time to respond to the issues raised and that it has a statutory duty as the regulator of a listed firm to investigate, determine and even prefer charges in the manner it did.
