Court Spares Billionaire Bernard Odote Jail in Meridian Records Fight

Meridian Acceptances Group Managing Director Bernard Odote escapes contempt sanctions after Justice Peter Mulwa finds insufficient proof of personal disobedience.

Bernard Odote has escaped a potential jail term after the High Court rejected contempt proceedings against him.

Justice Peter Mulwa dismissed James Ndwigah Muchungu’s application targeting four alleged contemnors over disputed corporate records.

The September 1 ruling found Meridian Acceptances Limited had not fully complied with earlier court orders.

However, the judge said that failure did not automatically make Bernard Odote personally guilty of contempt.

The decision leaves Odote free while keeping Meridian under continuing scrutiny over its corporate affairs.

It also leaves Muchungu’s wider dispute over Meridian’s management and records unresolved.

Odote at Centre

Bernard Odote is Meridian Acceptances’ Group Managing Director and a central figure in the company’s leadership.

Meridian describes itself as a pioneering micro-lender providing quick cash solutions to individuals and businesses.

Its products include logbook loans, salary financing, school fee funding, and medical emergency financing.

The company also offers working capital, invoice discounting, bill settlements, and import and export financing.

That business now sits inside a prolonged corporate dispute involving Muchungu, Meridian, and its management.

Muchungu was previously a director and shareholder of Meridian Acceptances Limited.

He has challenged aspects of the company’s management, ownership records, and corporate governance.

The present proceedings, however, centre specifically on Meridian’s compliance with disclosure orders.

They also ask whether individual officials should personally answer for alleged disobedience.

Records Become Battlefield

The latest fight began with orders Justice Mulwa issued on July 10, 2025.

The orders required Meridian to produce extensive financial and corporate records covering 2021 through 2024.

They included financial statements, bank statements, and particulars of authorised bank signatories.

Meridian also had to provide Board and Annual General Meeting minutes and resolutions.

The judge simultaneously restricted changes to Meridian’s shareholding, directorship, and corporate records.

Those restrictions were designed to preserve the company’s position pending determination of the underlying dispute.

Muchungu later accused Meridian of failing to comply fully with those requirements.

He said the company supplied documents covering 2023 through July 2025 instead.

That period, he argued, failed to match the court-ordered 2021 through 2024 period.

Muchungu also said bank statements and authorised signatory details remained outstanding.

He further accused Meridian’s officials of frustrating the proposed independent inspection.

His October 31, 2025, application therefore targeted four alleged contemnors.

They included Odote, Chief Executive Officer Ann Kamau, Meridian Kapital DCP Limited, and House of Procurement Limited.

Muchungu wanted the alleged contemnors summoned before court to explain the alleged disobedience.

He sought imprisonment for up to six months, fines, or both.

Meridian Pushes Back

Meridian offered a sharply different account of the disputed records and alleged non-compliance.

The company said annual reports and financial statements were supplied on October 28, 2025.

It also disputed possessing records predating the arrival of its current management.

According to Meridian, its present management took control during 2023.

That explanation became important because Muchungu demanded records covering years before that management arrived.

Meridian also maintained that it had demonstrated willingness to comply with the court orders.

It proposed CPA Stephen Gituthua Kimani as the independent inspector.

Muchungu rejected that proposal and instead suggested a major accounting firm.

His alternatives included PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and Ernst & Young.

The parties consequently failed to agree on who should conduct the proposed inspection.

Meridian then raised the issue that ultimately determined the contempt application.

It contended that the court orders had not been personally received by the alleged contemnors.

No proof of personal service, Meridian maintained, had been presented before the court.

Judge Draws Line

Justice Mulwa agreed that the July 10 orders were clear, specific, and completely unambiguous.

They identified the required documents and clearly established the relevant period as 2021 through 2024.

The crucial question then became whether Muchungu had proved personal contempt by Odote and others.

Justice Mulwa answered that question in the negative.

He found no evidence showing that the alleged contemnors had personally been served with the orders.

He also noted that Muchungu had not exhibited a penal notice alongside the orders.

That omission mattered because contempt proceedings can ultimately result in imprisonment.

The court therefore required evidence connecting each individual directly with the alleged disobedience.

Simply being a company director or executive could not establish personal contempt.

The judge stressed that personal knowledge and deliberate conduct required specific evidence.

That evidentiary gap ultimately saved Bernard Odote, Kamau, and the other alleged contemnors.

Yet the ruling contained an important finding against Meridian itself.

Justice Mulwa expressly found that the company had not fully complied with the July orders.

“Failure to comply with an order does not, without more,” establish contempt, the judge said.

That finding separated corporate non-compliance from personal liability for contempt.

Muchungu therefore lost his immediate bid to have Odote and the other alleged contemnors punished.

But Meridian did not emerge entirely victorious from the latest courtroom battle.

Orders Still Stand

The July 2025 orders remain valid, binding, and enforceable against Meridian Acceptances Limited.

The company must therefore continue addressing its outstanding disclosure obligations.

The restrictions protecting its shareholding, directorship, and corporate records also remain in force.

Justice Mulwa dismissed Muchungu’s contempt application without making an order for costs.

The ruling consequently settles only one part of the wider corporate contest surrounding Meridian.

It does not determine the underlying allegations concerning the company’s governance or financial affairs.

Nor does it finally resolve Muchungu’s complaints concerning Meridian’s corporate records.

Instead, it establishes a demanding standard for personally punishing company officials through contempt proceedings.

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Muchungu would need stronger evidence linking individual officials to deliberate disobedience.

For Odote, that distinction provides relief from immediate personal sanctions.

For Meridian, however, the court’s disclosure demands remain firmly alive.

The records Muchungu has pursued therefore remain central to the continuing litigation.

And the corporate battle surrounding Meridian Acceptances is far from finished.

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