East Africa Portland Cement Company has threatened legal action against anyone using its official logo without approval at a time when controversy over its status as a parastatal is in question. In a statement seen as a warning to its ousted board and its former managing director, the company on Wednesday cautioned members of the public not to use its logo unless in any communication unless signed by the managing director. “Please note that all communications shall be deemed official only if signed by the office of the Managing Director (currently Peter Korir – Ag. Managing Director) and through official Company email addresses. Kindly be advised that the company’s logo is not to be used under any other circumstances and that legal action will be taken against any person who breaches this directive,” said EAPCC acting Managing Director Peter Korir in a statement. On Tuesday last week, the firm’s now suspended Chairman Mr. Mark ole Karbolo together with the Mr. Kephar Tande, also suspended placed adverts in the press, responding to an earlier advert put by Mr. Korir on their status at the firm. Both the announcements had the EAPCC corporate Logo. This warning comes days after the feud at EAPCC, which is Kenya’s second biggest cement maker, took a new twist after it emerged that the Attorney- General’s legal opinion was also divided on whether the firm was actually a parastatal or a public company given its complex shareholding structure. Attorney General Githu Muigai told the permanent secretary in the Industrialisation ministry, Karanja Kibicho, who had sought the opinion, on December 14th that neither the government nor the state-controlled NSSF have controlling rights needed for the cement firm to be a parastatal. Prof Muigai, in his opinion, argued that a policy decision regarding the treatment of NSSF and GOK be made through consultations between the State Corporations Advisory Committee, the Ministry of Industrialisation and Treasury. Despite having this information, the industrialisation minister went ahead and suspended the entire board together with the Managing Director citing 'malpractices that may have led to huge losses and the continued poor performance of the company.’ Last month, NSSF announced it had transferred 3.6 million shares to its staff pension scheme, a private entity, which would have reduced the retirement body’s stake in EAPCC to 23 per cent from 27 per cent. But last week, it emerged no such shares had been transferred, triggering yet another row as Capital Markets Authority (CMA) denied such a transaction. The alleged transfer of NSSF shares, would have effectively changed EAPC’s status as a state corporation. The CMA has already suspended trading of EAPCC shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).