The Federal High Court has finally ruled in favour of Orchid Business Group awarding it the ownership of three pieces of machinery worth 106,000 euros that it has been fighting Yonas Kassahun over for the past four years.
The case was initiated on March 4, 2013, after Orchid filed a law suit demanding the court to pass an order over the ownership of machinery, a sales contract and rent income.
In its initial legal suit, Orchid claimed that it purchased three bobcat loading and unloading machines for the bid it won to rent out the machinery to two companies engaged in oil extraction in the southern parts of the country.
During the procurement process Akiko Seyoum, general manager of Orchid, found a Germany based company named Bobcat Bensheim & CO.KG while browsing the Internet, and signed a contract for the purchase of the machines with the company.
But the company stood on the verge of failing to meet the deadline as it could not get foreign currency even after it applied to banks. And that was the time when Yonas, who had an affair with Akiko, came on the scene. He offered Akiko to import the machines under his duty free privileges.
Following this arrangement, Akiko paid 106,000 euros to the German Company for the purchase of the three BobCat machines through her Dubai based company Soldan International, claims the legal suit.
She requested the selling company to send the shipments with Yonas’s name but to put her name on the bill of lading as the first person to be contacted during delivery. Yonas received the shipment and signed a sales agreement with Orchid as the transfer of the machines worth otherwise take two years.
The Ethiopian Revenues & Customs Authority (ERCA) transferred the duty free privileges on the machines to Orchid in April 2012, according to Orchid’s claim.
But during the arrangement set up for the transfer of ownership documents of the machines, the defendant created a nuisance which led to the detainment of the representatives of Orchid and the machines at the police station between November 2012 and February 2013 idly.
The plaintiff demanded the court to order the defendant to settle the sales agreement and pay four million Birr in compensation for the time that the machines remained idle.
In his statement of defence submitted on April 15, 2013, Yonas argued that the plaintiff had no cause of action, and the claimant had no right and interest to file the case.
Yonas also argued that he never entered into any agreement to transfer his duty free privileges mentioning its illegality. He also testified having no affairs with Akiko except a work relationship.
He mainly argued that they agreed to get a license for a construction machinery rental business and rent to Orchid. Through his delegate Yared Fikre, he obtained an investment and trade license after purchasing the machines from Germany, according to his defence.
Yonas also asserted he made the payment for the machines, explaining Orchid’s claim of making the payment via the Internet is nothing more than an unauthenticated message. Yonas also stated the invoices issued under his name are the most concrete evidence for the ownership of the machines.
On December 19, 2015, Yonas lodged a counter claim stating his agent Yared abused his delegation power to the extent of transferring the machines to Orchid. Yonas also claimed that he later found out that Yared was an employee of Orchid.
After reviewing the case on July 17, 2017, the Federal High Court entitled Orchid as an owner of the machines; it also relieved Yonas from the four million Birr punitive damage payment requested by Orchid. The e-mail exchange of Orchid showed that there was a sale agreement, reads the judgment. The Court also reasoned Yonas cannot be accountable for the detention of the machines, adds the final ruling.
“The judgement of the court is outrageous,” said Amha Mekonnen, Yonas’s lawyer.
The court did not properly weigh the evidence presented to them, and it skipped over the counter claim they brought to it, according to Amha.
A legal expert who commented on the condition of anonymity pointed out that the Court forwarded unfair entitlement for Orchid on the machines. He claims that as far as the machines came in Yonas’s name they belong to him. He also cites that the claim of Orchid is against ERCA’s law which forbids the transfer of duty free privileges.
However, on July 21, 2017, Judge Belachew Anshisho, president of the Federal High Court, injuncted the ruling of the High Court following the request from the judgment debtor, Yonas. The injunction order can last for 15 days until the judgment debtor appeals to the higher level court.
The lawyers of Orchid business group declined to comment on the issue despite our repeated efforts.
Leave a Reply