Lawyers who inflate their legal fees were yesterday criticised by a principal deputy registrar of the High Court, Mr M.J. Bhatt.

Mr Bhatt said the practice would force litigants to conduct their own cases instead of hiring the services of lawyers.

He said this when directing the Central Bank of Kenya to pay Sh3.5 million to lawyer Philip Murgor for his professional services rendered in a dispute revolving around CBK, Uhuru Highway Development Limited and Chunda International Limited.

Mr Murgor had filed a taxation suit against the CBK demanding Sh34 million in legal fees.

But the CBK opposed the application through its lawyer, J. Okwach.

In his judgment, the deputy registrar observed that Mr Murgor had filed the defence in the case before files were withdrawn from him. He did not conduct the case to its conclusion, Mr Bhatt observed.

Mr Murgor had gone to court saying he was entitled to his legal fees because his defence had stalled a Sh1.5 billion claim by the firm of contractors - Chunda International - against Uhuru Highway Development Limited and gave room for CBK to negotiate Sh2.4 billion as an out of court agreement.

Chunda International claims to have put up Nairobi's Grand Regency Hotel owned by Uhuru Highway Development Limited.

During the hearing, Mr Murgor said CBK made a profit of Sh13.5 billion which was presented to the head of state because professional fees "were not paid".

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