George Kashindi

Practice Areas

George is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over 22 years of experience and is also a Certified Public Secretary. He is the Partner in the firm and the in charge of the Nairobi office. George has exceptional experience in:

• Tax litigation

• Dispute resolution

• Employment litigation and advisory

• Data protection

• Legal, Compliance and Governance Audits

• Insolvency

• Regulatory & Compliance

• Public Procurement

• Civil and Commercial Litigation

• Alternative Dispute Resolution

• Energy and Natural Resources

• Constitutional matters

• Judicial Review

George has a solid understanding of the tax policy and legislative framework and has many years’ experience in litigation, tax dispute resolution, tax investigations and prosecutions, interpretation of the tax statutes and advising on tax policy and legislation. He has acted in a number of jurisprudence setting tax matters. He holds an LLM in Financial Services with a specialization in tax. He also has exceptional experience, regulatory, compliance and governance audits and is respected in this field as a leading expert.

Career

• 2023 to 2025 date: Member, Tax Appeals Tribunal

• 2009 to Date: Partner, Munyao Muthama & Kashindi

• 2002 - 2008: Senior Legal Counsel, Kenya Revenue Authority

• 2001 - 2002: Trainee Advocate, Rachier and Amollo Advocates

Professional Memberships

• The Law Society of Kenya

• The East African Law Society

• Professional Trainers Association of Kenya

• Institute of Certified Secretaries

Publications

Co-authored Volumes 1 and 2 of Kashindis’ Digest of Employment Cases (released August 2020 and November 2023 respectively) both of which cover over 240 digested cases that we carefully selected according to their jurisprudential value.

Clients

• Kenya Tea Development Agency

• Kenya Power & Lighting Company

• Huawei Technologies

• Tea Board of Kenya

• Safaricom

• Kenya Airports Authority

• National Assembly (Kenya Parliament)

• Communications Authority

• Nestle

• Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA)

Work Highlights

• Successfully represented an international school before the Tax Appeals Tribunal and the High Court and in Alternative Dispute Resolution proceedings, in disputes regarding income tax on the emoluments of the school’s expatriate employees. The tax assessments were in excess of KShs. 400 million. The dispute involved the interpretation of bilateral agreements between the Government of Kenya and a foreign government, the Income Tax Act, and the principle of legitimate expectation. The matter was concluded with a favourable settlement agreement.

• Successfully acted for a forest development agency company incorporated in Kenya that sets up and manages forest trees on behalf of its clients. The client was contracted by its related company in Europe to undertake management agency activities on its and its investors’ behalf. Kenya Revenue Authority alleged that the client had received long term interest free loans from the European company and demanded withholding tax on deemed interest.

• Successfully acted for Kenya Tea Development Agency in obtaining an order for the lifting of an ex parte preservation order against them for an alleged tax liability in the sum of over Kshs. 2.5 billion. The preservation order meant the freezing of the client’s accounts at various banks, which hugely affected the client’s operation

• Successfully represented a leading export trading company in challenging a tax assessment in excess of KShs. 348 million in the High Court. Subsequently successfully represented the client in appeals by the Kenya Revenue Authority to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The case involved complex tax issues touching on various WTO rules including the non-discrimination principle, rules of origin, East African Common tariff classification, and an array of constitutional and administrative law issues.

• Acted in high-stakes litigation, including defending the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority in class action suits initiated by consumer association, contesting the imposition of VAT on petroleum as well as imposition of certain levies in computing the cost of electricity bills

• Advised and represented various clients in employment and labour disputes in the Employment and Labour Relations Court and in the Court of Appeal and in review of employment related documentation as well as advisory on redundancy and restructuring and collective bargaining.

• Represented KCB Bank and Mumias Sugar Company (in Receivership) in a USD 35 million dispute at the ICC International Court of Arbitration concerning a cogeneration plant credit facility.

• Represented a leading Chinese firm in multi-billion-shilling procurement disputes before the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board and the High Court, addressing jurisdictional issues and donor-funded project disputes.

• Acted for Communication Authority, Agriculture and Food Authority, Sugar Board, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, Energy and Petroleum Regulatory and numerous other Regulators on regulatory and constitutional matters before the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

1. Kenya

2. Regional Courts

3. Local and International arbitration

Languages Spoken

English and Kiswahili

Education