Denis Opudo
Zuku pay television and Internet provider owners, Wananchi Group Kenya has taken Cellulant Kenya to court. The owners have sued the digital payment startup requesting for refunding of the customer payment worth Ksh1 million. The owners claimed that it appointed the company as its agent in 2013 to collect money from its customers. However, the company has failed to give the arrears amounting to Sh30.4 million as of May 2018.
However, Cellulant has responded by asking the court to refer the case to a tribunal. This is because the agreement between the two companies directs that the dispute is resolved using arbitration. Cellulant argued that there are some issues including who is responsible for tax liability. Through court papers, Wananchi said that the plaintiff prays for judgment against the defendant. Wananchi claims that Cellulant accepted the amount in discussion and agreed to settle it down by the end of April 2018. The agreement has not been honored until now.
According to the document filled in court by a law company of Iseme on behalf of Cellulant, Maema and Kamau has claimed that the petition is an abuse of court process. This is because the contract calls for legally binding arbitration and no one can go against that. Furthermore, Cellulant said that the group terminated the contract even though the ongoing reconciliation of the actual money still in court. Cellulant further claimed that there is a disparity regarding value-added tax (VAT) and who should be responsible for the tax.
Cellulant asked to be allowed until August to check on its accounts. It said that it was waiting for an investment worth Sh4.8 billion to be channeled into its accounts. The company sold part of its shares to The Rise Fund, a social impact investment company from the US. The move is viewed as the largest deal to have happened by a fintech company in Kenya.
