The CEO of Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) Maurice Okoth, Chairman Bernard Mukaisi and key directors are set to be arraigned in court today to answer to various offences among them defrauding the public off Ksh 800 million.
They were yesterday served with court summons to appear in court by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Last month Maurice and two other officials had been arrested but were released for what the CEO called lack of evidence.
In a statement to the press, the MCSK chairman described the allegations as false and malicious.
“Our position is that these charges are a culmination of a malicious scheme intended to disable or permanently injure the operations of the organization with a further aim of putting the MCSK and its officials into disrepute. This is ultimately with the aim of discrediting the organisation in the eyes of its members, partners, clients, and the public at large,” Mukaisi stated.
MCSK has issued a statement to its members complete with evidence discrediting the allegations against the officials.
“As an example, the CEO is being charged with others not before the court, with defrauding the public off Ksh 800 million by collecting royalties since the year 2013 without a valid license. We have attached a copy of our license and also a letter from the OFFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Kenya Copyright Board, which confirmed that we are duly licensed. This evidence has been ignored and we are facing charges as a result of our collections since 2013 allegedly estimated at kshs 800 million,” the statement read.
Mukaisi goes ahead to reiterate that all the said officials have acted above board and expressed confidence that they shall be vindicated and declared innocent of any wrong doing.
There has been constant friction between the royalty collection body and a section of the artistes with the latest spat being between gospel singer Ringtone and Maurice.
Last month Maurice, through his lawyers, accused the gospel singer of engaging in and spreading false, destructive and defamatory rumours about MCSK and particularly about himself as the CEO.
Ringtone, on the other hand, claimed that he has not seen the demand letter and that he is not planning on taking it seriously either.
