Nairobi, Aug. 28 -- The High Court in Nairobi has rejected an application by Kiru Tea Factory Company Ltd to join a case in which Citibank N.A. Kenya is seeking to stop a criminal investigation over a disputed $2.02 million (Sh261 million) loan.

The court ruled that the farmers-owned company, managed by the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA), had not shown that excluding it from the case would affect its interests or that it had information the State investigators could not present. The factory is based in Murang'a County.

"I am not persuaded that there is anything that the applicant (Kiru) will present that cannot already be provided by the respondents nor that it will be prejudiced if the Petition is heard in its absence," the judge ...