Manager fined US$42,000 for illegally donating company equipment to Naguru hospital

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Court has directed Monica Komujuni, the former Manager Kenyan firm Hass Scientific and Medical Supplies Limited to refund US$ 42,000 (about 156M) for illegally donating a hematology analyzer to Naguru Hospital.

In her judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Lydia Mugambe noted that Komujuni donated the machine which counts and identifies blood cells at a high speed and accuracy without authorisation from the company leadership.

During the hearing, Komujuni had told court that the company had sanctioned the donation through its General Manager Stephen Ndegwa. She explained that Ndegwa sanctioned the donation as part of their social corporate liability and efforts to gain business from government as against their rivals Medi-shell, which had already donated another medical equipment.

However, the company denied sanctioning the donation saying it was only discovered while scrutinising the company documents following Komujuni’s resignation. They also discovered that Komujuni had registered another employee Cedrick Akwesigye as a contact person in case the hospital needed any technical information about the machine.

“It is clearly demonstrated that the defendant donated the X1000 to Naguru hospital without the required authorization from the head office in Nairobi. There was also no knowledge at the head office, where decisions are made, that the said machine was donated by the defendant in the Kampala office”, Mugambe wrote in her judgment.

She noted that the only authorization was for the donation of a smaller machine which never left the office in Kampala. She said by doing this, the two employees acted in breach of trust and treachery when they went ahead to create a similar company Micro-Haem Ltd dealing in the same business as the other one.

“Literally, they stole the business of the Plaintiff and acquired sole distributorship of the product the Plaintiff dealt in, in Uganda and then left the Plaintiff Company”, she wrote. In addition to refunding the US$ 42,000, Mugambe also awarded Hass Scientific and Medical Supplies Limited Shillings 5 million in general damages and another Shillings 3 million in exemplary damages.

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