Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has opposed plans by a retired civil servant to reinstate a case he withdrew in June over a Sh1.5 billion property in Embakasi.
Mr Gachagua told the Environment and Land Court Wednesday that the case by John Michael Ohas, a former director of physical planning in the Ministry of Lands, stands withdrawn and plans to bring it back was an abuse of court processes.
Mr Gachagua, through lawyer Philip Nyachoti, urged the court to strike out the case and allow the parties to go for taxation of the matter. Mr Gachagua is seeking Sh32 million from Mr Ohas after suing him last year, only to withdraw the case in June.
“That an order for reinstatement of a withdrawn suit does not lie in law and in the circumstances the application is fatally and incurably defective and should be dismissed with costs,” Mr Nyachoti said.
Mr Gachagua later sued Mr Ohas after it emerged that he and his company Columbus Two Thousand Ltd, had obtained another title deed to the contested land.
The Deputy President said the retired civil servant tampered with records at the Lands registry and obtained a title deed in 2019 for the land near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Mr Gachagua is seeking a revocation of the second title deed, claiming it was fraudulently obtained.
The court had issued an order barring Mr Ohas from selling or transferring the disputed land, pending the determination of the case.
The court pushed the hearing of the case to November 16.
Mr Gachagua says he bought the land for Sh24 million from Peter Nduati and Pauline Muringe who owned it through Karandi Farm Ltd. He says the duo was allocated the land in 1999 for Sh554,000.
He later charged the title deed to Equity Bank for a loan of Sh200 million.
Mr Ohas had claimed that he was allocated the plot in 1994 by former President Daniel Moi.
