Nakuru billionaire risks being thrown in jail in India over child custody

The Supreme Court of India wants a Kenyan billionaire thrown in jail for allegedly obstructing the delivery of justice.

The apex court has directed Indian authorities to have him arrested for contempt of court.

The man, who is a CEO of various companies with footprints in many countries including India, is accused of presenting a ‘wrong or fake’ order in court to secure the custody of his child.

The billionaire and his estranged wife are involved in a child custody case filed in India. Although the 12-year-old boy lives with his father in Kenya while the mother is in India, the parents have been fighting in court for a decade over which country the minor should be raised in.

The jurisdiction dispute recently took a new twist on July 11, 2022, when the India Supreme Court indicted the billionaire for contempt of court. The apex court says the businessman used a wrong or forged mirror order issued by a Kenyan judge two years ago to secure custody of their child.

A mirror order is a document made in one country and whose contests reflect the original order made in another country. The Indian Supreme Court now says the orders were either wrong or fake.

The purpose of a mirror order is to safeguard the interest of the child from one jurisdiction to another as well as guarantee that both parents are equally bound in each country.

The bench in India comprising justices Uday Umesh Lalit and P S Narasimha wants Indian authorities to present the billionaire in an Indian court for sentencing over the forgery claims, which the businessman denies.

The business mogul was to be presented in court on Friday (July 22) to know his jail term but the sentencing was moved to November.

“It is well settled that a person who makes a false statement before the court and makes an attempt to deceive the Court, interferes with the administration of justice and is guilty of contempt of Court,” the bench said as quoted in The Times of India.

After winning the child custody battle with his estranged wife and pleading that he would abide by conditions set by courts in India, the businessman was given custody of the child by the Indian Supreme Court in 2020.

But his wife moved to court claiming she had been denied access to her son and that the husband had reneged on the mirror order. The couple is currently separated.

By this time, the billionaire had got a reprieve after a High Court in Kenya ruled that the Indian Supreme Court orders were not applicable here since there were no reciprocal arrangements between Kenya and India allowing either county’s judgment to be enforced or registered by either country’s courts.

“Later, he not only refused to obey the directions granting visitation or meeting rights to the mother but shockingly moved the Kenyan court for a declaration of invalidity of Indian jurisdiction, laws and judgments,” said the Supreme Court judges in India.

The Indian judges further revoked earlier orders granting him the custody of his son, terming the decision illegal ‘ab initio void’.

The billionaire, who is staring at a possible jail term, has termed the ruling against him as highly irregular, illegal and unenforceable. The businessman is astonished that the Indian Supreme Court has no respect for decisions made by courts in Kenya.

“This bizarre ruling is one that has stemmed out of 8 and a half year struggle that has a deep and unjust history.  A history where Kenyans have been mistreated in India,” says the billionaire.

Trouble in their broken marriage began in March 2012, when his wife, mother-in-law and two-and-a-half-year son travelled to India.

While the family was in India, he says, his wife filed for a permanent injunction restraining him and his parents from ever coming close to the child.

“My elderly parents and I flew every month to India to see the child for only a few hours,” says the businessman.

The tycoon and his father who died last year, launched an appeal that went all the way to the Indian Supreme Court, which allowed him to take his son back to Kenya, only for the decision to be revised recently on grounds that he used either a wrong or fake mirror order to convince the apex court.

The Family Court in India had initially ruled in his favour, but his wife appealed and won, retaining the custody of their son. The tycoon now claims his estranged wife mistreated their son and that the boy does not want to live with her.

“The boy has clearly told the authorities in Kenya that he does not want to go to India or see his mother. There are statements recorded to this effect. This Kenyan wants to stay and remain in his beloved homeland.  Despite these clear wishes and orders from relevant government bodies, the Supreme Court of India wants to continue to perpetuate illegality and unfairness,” the tycoon told The Nairobian.

According to the businessman, they registered their complaints to the Department of Children Services and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

In an assessment report after interrogating the boy, Isadia Hoyd, County Coordinator, Nairobi County Children Services, concluded that it was unfair to force the child to go back to India against his wish.

Having ascertained that the minor was comfortable living with the father, Hoyd was of the view that courts from both sides should act in the best interest of the child.

And on August 9, 2021, Hoyd advised the tycoon’s lawyers, David Kiptum & Company Advocates, to move to the Children Court and seek orders that will grant the child’s wishes.

“To force him to talk to his mother and travel to India to see her against his wish is likely to visit untold psychological effects on him.

“Given the fact that the child is within the jurisdiction of Kenya, the Children’s Court is clothed with the jurisdiction to issue orders of this nature,” wrote Hoyd in a letter to the lawyer.