After reviewing the matter, which has been in court for 22 years and given rise to 18 civil suits, a three-judge appellate court Bench decided it included issues that should be settled by the highest court in the land. FILE
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Judges said the case of Mr Ngengi Muigai “is a matter of great public interest, which needs to be determined by the highest court in the land”.
The directors of Muiru Coffee Estate and Benjoh Amalgamated, Mr Ngengi Muigai and his brother Captain Kung’u Muigai, who have lost successive court battles with KCB, lodged a petition at the Court of Appeal seeking a reversal of eviction orders earlier granted in the lower courts.
At stake is a 443-acre farm in Thika, which KCB sold to Bidii Kenya Limited at auction in 2007 for Sh70 million.
Two of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cousins have won the right to go before the Supreme Court to challenge a judgement that saw Kenya Commercial Bank auction off their 443-acre farm over disputed loan arrears.
After reviewing the matter, which has been in court for 22 years and given rise to 18 civil suits, a three-judge appellate court Bench decided it included issues that should be settled by the highest court in the land.
Mr Justice Patrick Kiage, Lady Justice Agnes Murgor and Lady Justice Jan Mohammed said the case of Mr Ngengi Muigai “is a matter of great public interest, which needs to be determined by the highest court in the land”.
The judges said the fulcrum of the case is “whether there were proper records both before the High Court and Court of Appeal (about the 1989 loan that) could be relied upon in arriving at a just decision”.
“A plethora of cases have stemmed from this transaction,” said the appellate judges. “Some of the cases are still pending in the High Court.”
They found that the appellants will have a change to ventilate their case “in a more elaborate manner” at the Supreme Court.
The directors of Muiru Coffee Estate and Benjoh Amalgamated, Mr Ngengi Muigai and his brother Captain Kung’u Muigai, who have lost successive court battles with KCB, lodged a petition at the Court of Appeal seeking a reversal of eviction orders earlier granted in the lower courts.
At stake is a 443-acre farm in Thika, which KCB sold to Bidii Kenya Limited at auction in 2007 for Sh70 million. The directors were ordered to surrender the property after losing at the High Court and Court of Appeal.
Muiru Coffee Estate and Benjoh Amalgamated have been trying to recover the property, auctioned over a loan advanced by KCB to finance a flower farming business in Nyandarua. The appellants say the bank declined to release monies to harvest the flowers leading to huge losses. KCB moved to recover its loan.
The companies believe that the Sh70,102,456 at which the property was sold was way below its true value – “about Sh700 million”.
Captain Kung’u and Mr Muigai had sought a declaration that the sale was illegal and fraudulent and asked to be restored as the rightful owners of the property and to have their liability to KCB discharged.
In the earlier cases, judges have ruled that the bank was at liberty to sell the property if the debt was not serviced as had been agreed.
