The company operating the SportPesa trademark has been taken to court for contèmpt of court over the use of the now popular brand. Milestone Game Limited has been accused of disregarding orders issued on 19th September barring it from operating SportPesa.
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SportPesa directors include Kasarani MP Ronald Karauri and Bulgarian nationals. In documents filed in court, a director of Pevans East Africa, the firm that established SportPesa, describes Milestone’s continued use of the SportPesa brand as a ridicule to the court.
“The defendants’ disobedience is designed to defeat justice and render the proceedings herein a nullity and a mere academic exercise,” says Asenath Maina, who is a director of Pevans. “The claimant invites the honourable court to rise to its judicial duty to defend the integrity of the judicial process, the constitutional values of rule of law and to defend the administration of justice by forthwith punishing the defendants for their egregious acts of contempt committed against this honourable court.”
On 19th September, High Court judge Anthony Ndung’u suspended a licence issued to Milestone by the Bettíng Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) allowing it to run SportPesa. Milestone has since filed an application for judicial review of the said decision.
“Orders given by this honourable court on the 19th of September were issued without first hearing the interested party and thus amount to a violation of the interested party’s non derogable right to a fair trial,” Milestone’s operating manager Bernard Chauro states in an affidavit.
Two directors of Bettíng Control and Licensing Board denied issuing the licence on 17th August. In separate affidavits, Joy Masinde and Sabrina Kanini, two directors of the BCLB, say that bettíng license 00448, which Milestone was issued allowing it to run SportPesa is not procedural.
Pevans and Milestone are locked in a legal battle over SportPesa, with the former arguing that the brand was transferred illegally to Milestone. A case pitting directors of Pevans, including co-director Paul Ndung’u is slated for mention on Monday. Ms Maina owns 21% share at Pevans, with Mr Ndung’u holding 17%.
They both alleged that the brand’s transfer, which includes Paybill numbers 955100 and 9555700 as well as the short-code 79079 among other assets, was done through forgéry of documents and without the approval of the Pevans board.
Pevans lost its SportPesa operating license in 2019 following claims by the Kenya Revenue Authority that it had defaulted Sh95 billion in taxes. Milestone has been operating under the 2020 orders for the last two years.
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