A Nairobi court has ordered a Sh110 million fraud case against former Heritage Flowers Ltd directors Shailesh Kumar Rai and his wife Ranjeeta Pandey Rai, together with three other accused individuals, to proceed to full trial after rejecting a bid to terminate the charges.
Milimani Principal Magistrate Paul Mutai ruled that the matter would not be moved to the Commercial Division, saying the law permits criminal and commercial proceedings to run concurrently. He noted that the request to withdraw the criminal case was mishandled and failed to involve the complainant, which the court could not overlook.
Mutai said the prosecution retains the constitutional right to institute or terminate charges, but such decisions must be made with transparency and with the court’s approval. He faulted the attempt to withdraw the case without notifying the complainant, calling it an error that risked undermining the integrity of the process.
He added that sidelining the complainant turned the victim into a mere observer, weakening the fairness owed to all parties involved.
The magistrate observed that the accused persons were formally charged on July 28, 2023, after the Director of Public Prosecutions gave consent for the matter to proceed to criminal trial. Two witnesses have already testified. Mutai found it unjust to halt the case midstream after the accused had already taken plea, stressing that there was no prejudice in allowing commercial and criminal cases to proceed simultaneously.
The prosecution had sought to withdraw the matter through a letter dated June 19, 2025, but the complainant’s lawyer objected, filing an application urging the court to allow the trial to continue.
The accused — Shailesh Kumar Rai, Ranjeeta Pandey Rai, Isaack Ikua, Chris Oyunge and Rosalia Blooms Limited — face nine counts that include conspiracy to defraud, stealing by servant, money laundering and multiple forgery charges. They are accused of conspiring to defraud Heritage Flowers Ltd of Sh110,520,990 between September 2021 and August 2022.
The court heard that Ranjeeta Pandey Rai was a director of Heritage Flowers and is married to Shailesh Rai, who did not appear in court for plea taking on Friday. The charges also include allegations that the two forged minutes of a virtual board meeting of Rosalia Blooms Limited dated February 19, 2022, and a trust deed purportedly signed on September 26, 2021, between Rosalia Blooms Limited and Heritage Flowers Ltd.
The court has set February 12, 2026, as the date when the trial will resume.
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