Companies

Slain Nakumatt auditor’s widow joins debts suit

atul

Mr Atul Shah, Nakumatt managing director. FILE PHOTO | NMG

James Karanja Mwangi, the Nakumatt internal auditor who was shot dead under mysterious circumstances in June 2015, is among the supermarket’s long list of creditors with a Sh30 million claim to his name.

Mr Karanja’s widow, Latoya Mghoi Kaka, says Nakumatt did not remit a Sh30 million insurance payout to his family despite receiving the sum from Kenindia Insurance.

She has joined the insolvency petition against Nakumatt on behalf of the slain auditor’s estate.

Nakumatt received the cash that was meant for his family’s compensation arising from a life insurance policy.

Ms Kaka, after being granted administration of her late husband’s estate, attempted to collect the money but learned that the money had been received by Nakumatt which is yet to remit it to her and Mr Karanja’s other survivors.

Ms Kaka, represented by Ayub K Anampiu Advocates, has joined the petition filed by Africa Cotton Industries to support calls for Nakumatt’s liquidation for being unable to pay its debts.

Mr Karanja died on June 7, 2015 at around 5pm, after being shot twice in the head and once in the chest by gunmen who were riding a motorcycle.

He was the group internal auditor, having held the position since February 2014 when he joined the retail chain from Bolloré Africa Logistics.

Police said the gunmen, who were on a motorcycle, attacked Karanja on a narrow access road near Panari Hotel and rode towards Mombasa Road after the shooting without stealing anything.

READ: Heavy debt, fraud leave billionaires in turmoil

ALSO READ: No let-up for Nakumatt as KRA auction looms

The Nakumatt auditor died without having written a will, but his wife was granted letters of administration of his estate by the High Court four months after his death.

“By Latoya Mghoi Kaka for a grant of letters of administration intestate to the estate of James Karanja Maina, who died at Industrial Area, on 7th June 2015.”

“The court will proceed to issue the same unless cause be shown to the contrary and appearance in this respect entered within thirty (30) days from the date of publication of this notice in the Kenya Gazette,” the October 2015 Kenya Gazette reads.

Police officer Ezekiel Momanyi Onsongo has since been charged alongside Philip Manyura Maroko — an accounts manager at Nakumatt — and Dennison Mose Maroko, a boda boda operator.