Deloitte’s fight with Kenyan partner now contempt issue

One of Deloitte's partners, Amaha Bekele Admassie who has moved to court seeking to block the termination of his partnership at the firm. PHOTO | DELOITTE

Nine senior Deloitte & Touche LLP officials risk being jailed for allegedly breaching court orders stopping the consultancy from expelling Amaha Bekele Admassie from his partner status.

Mr Admassie has accused his co-partners – Ann Muraya, Graeme Berry, Gladys Makumi, Doreen Mbogho, Arifa Sheikh, Fred Okwiri, Charles Luo and Bernadette Wahogo – of frustrating his attempts to return to work, and now wants the High Court to intervene.

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Mr Admassie has asked the court to ensure that Deloitte allows him full access to the workplace as an equity partner, or jail the nine partners.

High Court judge Nixon Sifuna in May issued orders stopping Deloitte from expelling Mr Admassie from the Nairobi-based arm of British consultancy Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Lawyer Emmanuel Eredi now says in a fresh application that Deloitte is yet to remit Mr Admassie’s monthly dues for June and July and has locked him out of the firm’s office network and emails.

Mr Eredi holds that his client’s laptop was confiscated under the guise of installation of updates, and now wants it returned with all the data it contained before being surrendered to the IT department.

The Ethiopian national was given another laptop, but now claims that the device has no client data, and his personal files are also missing.

Court papers show that Mr Admassie reported back to work on July 11, 2023, and was summoned for a meeting by Ann Muraya, one of his co-partners.

In the meeting, Ms Muraya allegedly told Mr Admassie not to communicate with Deloitte’s clients or interact with staff.

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In a response filed via lawyer Michi Kirimi of Hamilton Harrison and Mathews, Ms Muraya has denied that Deloitte is in breach of Justice Sifuna’s orders.

Deloitte believes that owing to the court case, it would be inappropriate for Mr Admassie to deal with clients directly.

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