A bank was yesterday ordered to pay a judge Sh2.5 million for defamation, Lady Justice Joyce Ehamiwa ruled that Justice Nicholas Ombija was defamed by the bank when it claimed he had no money in his account.
Justice Khaminwa said the bank breached the contract It entered into with the judge when he opened the account. She said the money will start earning interest on August 27, 2009, the date by which it should have been delivered to the judge. Justice Ombija had asked the court, through his lawyer.
Mr Miller had asked for Sh6 million for defamation and Sh 1 million for breach of contract. Justice Khaminwa made the judgment two’ days after the Court Appeal said the proceedings to await the out-come of an intended appeal, saying the bank had shown that it had an arguable appeal. The judgment, therefore, could place the judge and the court of appeal on a collision course.
In his testimony, Justice Ombija told the court that he was defamed three times on April 19 and May 3 and 4,2008. “I was surprised to be told I lacked funds in my account yet I had deposited over Sh19,000 in my Visa account; the judge said. He told Justice Khaminwa that the director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, Mr Justice (rid) Aaron Ring-era, signed the contract forms as a witness when he opened the Visa account.
He told the court the bank subjected him to “considerable amount of distress, agony, mental torture, humiliation, scandal, opprobrium and contempt in the eyes of the public.
