The High Court has stopped the sale of property worth millions in downtown Nairobi until a family ownership dispute is determined.
Controversy over the Sh350 million multistorey building on River Road pits the son of late tycoon Ratilal Bhurabhai Soni, his sister-in-law, an investment company and the Middle East Bank (Kenya) Ltd.
Justice Pauline Nyamweya has restrained any party from transferring, selling or entering into any agreement with a view to disposing of the property until the dispute is determined.
“The company, Dukes Investments International Ltd is ordered to deposit in court the original title deed of the property for safe custody until the suit is determined,” Justice Nyamweya ruled on Thursday.
The dispute involves two separate suits consolidated into one. In the first claim, Mr Chandulal Soni has sued his sister-in-law Manjulal Dhirajlal Soni.
Ms Soni has sued Dukes in the second suit.
Mr Soni claims his sister-in-law fraudulently acquired a letter of administration and illegally entered into an agreement with Dukes Investment Ltd to sell the property.
Through lawyer Samuel Muga, Mr Soni argues that after his father’s death, his older brother, Mr Dhirajlal Soni, was appointed the estate’s administrator on behalf of the family.
“When my brother died in 2006, I was to hold the property in trust for the other dependants. I was surprised when his wife attempted to transfer the property to herself,” said Mr Soni.
He says in 2013, his sister-in-law applied for a letter of administration and forged an order that allegedly barred him from the property.
While he was fighting to revoke a grant letter fraudulently issued to his sister-in-law, he discovered she had entered into an agreement with Dukes Investment Ltd to sell the property.
“She started meddling in the administration of the estate and even purported to evict the tenants without legal authority,” said Mr Soni.
Ms Soni, on the other hand, sued Dukes and a businessman, Mr Joseph Gesora, for duping her into signing a sale agreement.
She swore that she entered into an agreement with the company to purchase the property at Sh350 million, in which a 10 per cent deposit would be paid and the balance paid in equal monthly instalments of Sh4.3 million.
“Before the deposit was paid, Mr Gesora while in the company of a lawyer from Middle East Bank, visited my house and told me to sign some documents without any explanation,” she said.
She said the two told her the company had obtained a substantial amount from the bank towards purchasing the building and that they wanted her to release the title to the bank to be used as security.
Unknown to her, she had signed the sale agreement, transfer form, and released the property title without receiving money.
She says she filed the case when the firm failed to pay the deposit as agreed.
