Derrick Cornelius Van Houten has been summoned by a Milimani Court to appear on 2nd April to take plea in a Sh7 million fraud case against him.
The summon fines after the former Chief Executive Officer of KFC and Java House failed to turn in court claiming that he was unwell and a doctor recommended five days bed rest according to his lawyer.
Appearing before Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina, the Director of Public Prosecution and lawyer watching brief for complainant argued against the postponement of plea taking saying the suspect has been playing hide and seek and it took five months to hunt him down for his arrest of which he was later released on a Sh50,000 police bond.
In the charge sheet seen by Kenya Insights, , it is alleged that on the diverse dates between 1st October 2021 and 31st of January 2022 ,in Nairobi within Nairobi county , with intent to defraud the accused obtained from Awil Abdurahman Abdulle a total sum of Ksh 7,911,000 by falsely pretending that he was in a position to approve and construct a Java Hotel for him in Narok a fact the
accused knew was false.
The complaint claim he was easily duped into believing Derrick by the stature of him being a former CEO of Java Hotel.
Mr Van Houten was dismissed from Java in November 2022 barely two years after joining the firm from KFC. The reasons for his dismissal have remained unclear.
Derrick Cornelius Van Houten.
He is currently the Group CEO of Bottomline Company.
In Kenya, Java competes with global brands including KFC and Subway, as well as smaller foreign-owned local chains such as Artcaffe—which has also been on an expansion trail fuelled by private equity investors.
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