BY SAM ALFAN.
A seven-storey commercial and residential building in the expansive Huruma area in Nairobi is at the centre of a long-drawn legal battle between businesswoman Alice Wanjiru Wamwea, her former financier and a company claiming to have bought the property.
Wanjiru had sued Faulu Micro-Finance Bank, which provided her with a loan to construct the building at the popular Jonsaga area, and Oksana Investments Supplies Ltd, which bought the property through public auction for Sh87million.
The warring parties appeared on Friday last week before High Court Judge David Majanja, who directed that the two cases should be consolidated because they had similar disputed issues for determination.
Oksana Investments wants the court to order Wanjiru to vacate the building and give notices to tenants who are occupying the residential wing. The company further said the property was transferred to its name on September 2018, after paying land rates of Sh241,799, land rent of 162,486 and duty stamp of Sh4.4 million, among other charges.
Documents filed in court show that Oksana Investments has already used the property’s title deed to obtain a loan of Sh60 million at NIC bank. The directors have protested that they were suffering financial ruin because they cannot take possession or receive rent.
The court heard that Wanjiru has been collecting rent since March 28, 2018 and the company wants her to account for all the rent she has collected for the past one year.
In reply, the businesswoman said Oksana Investents was aware that she has filed a case against Faulu bank and the new suit against her was an abuse of the court process.
She has further dismissed ownership claims by the company and contends that it colluded with the bank to defraud her of the property, through a public auction. According to MWanjiru, Oksana presented forged or fake documents to the Registrar of Lands, for purposes of registering the title to the land.
She has accused the bank of acting in bad faith over her property and retaining Sh50 million she allegedly credited to the lender while applying for the loan facility. She has denied falling into arrears in loan repayment.
Justice Majanja directed the case to be heard on November 15.
