Lawyers representing hundreds of former East African Community (EAC) employees have given the liquidators of Crown Agents Limited seven days to account for investigations into a disputed £377 million (KSh 65.32 billion) pension claim, warning that court action could follow if the matter remains unresolved.
In a letter dated September 16, 2026, lawyer Kevin Turunga Ithagi, working alongside High Court advocate Victor Okebiro and legal counsel Cindy, challenged the liquidators’ assertion that no pension funds belonging to the former EAC employees had been identified.
The legal team is demanding documentary evidence detailing the inquiries conducted to trace the alleged funds and establish what happened to the pension contributions.
“A bare assertion that no assets have been identified cannot substitute for a documented and verifiable account of the inquiries conducted,” Ithagi stated in the letter.
The lawyers said their clients remained willing to pursue an amicable settlement but warned that failure to provide satisfactory answers could leave them with no option but to seek legal remedies.
The dispute dates back decades and concerns retirement benefits allegedly held in trust by Crown Agents on behalf of former EAC employees before the regional organisation collapsed.
The pensioners allege that Crown Agents released the funds to the Tanzanian government, leaving them without their expected retirement benefits.
In correspondence dated May 19, 2020, Ithagi put the amount allegedly paid out on January 31, 1987, at £9,189,410.54. He further claimed that £606,172,925.05 remained outstanding for 1,606 pensioners.
However, the latest proof of debt submitted on March 6, 2026, places the claim at approximately £377 million (KSh 65.32 billion). The information provided does not explain the difference between the current claim and the earlier figure of more than £606 million.
The pensioners have also sought accountability from the British government, which has denied responsibility for the dispute.
In a recent response, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it had no records of the pension scheme and directed the claimants to the liquidators and The National Archives.
The department also maintained that the British government was not a shareholder in Crown Agents Limited when the company entered liquidation, following the transfer of assets to a successor company under the Crown Agents Act 1995.
In an earlier letter dated November 29, 2019, the UK government argued that responsibility for the pension dispute rested with the former EAC partner states under the 1984 Mediation Agreement. It also maintained that any claim brought in England would be time-barred.
Crown Agents Limited was placed in compulsory liquidation on August 1, 2024, with Robert Goodhew and Benjamin Wiles of Kroll Advisory appointed as joint liquidators.
The liquidators have stated that their investigations did not identify pension funds and that no dividend is expected to be paid to unsecured creditors.
The latest demand seeks to establish how the liquidators reached that conclusion and whether the inquiries undertaken were sufficient to account for the disputed contributions.
The lawyers say many of their clients are elderly and have spent years pursuing retirement benefits they believe are rightfully theirs. They argue that resolving the matter has become increasingly urgent as the pensioners continue to seek answers about the whereabouts of the money and the circumstances surrounding its alleged transfer.
The seven-day deadline places renewed pressure on the liquidators to provide a substantive response to a dispute that has persisted through years of correspondence between the pensioners, the company’s liquidators and the British government.
