NBK sucked into widow’s Sh28m Karen land dispute
National Bank of Kenya has been sucked into a dispute involving an 83-year-old widow fighting to unfreeze Sh28 million arising from the sale of a parcel of land in Karen 15 years ago.
The National Bank of Kenya (NBK) has been sucked into a dispute involving an 83-year-old widow fighting to unfreeze Sh28 million arising from the sale of a parcel of land in Karen 15 years ago.
The lender was enjoined in the case by Francis Mwaura Njinu, who also works in the bank, as he seeks to appeal the dismissal of his case last year in a botched land deal.
Mr Mwaura wants the three accounts belonging to Ms Hannah Wanjiku Mburu to remain frozen until she pays him Sh5.7 million after the botched deal.
“That the said accounts hold an amount sufficient to satisfy the decretal sum herein and costs of the application and the same should be attached and utilised to satisfy the outstanding decretal sum,” Mr Mwaura said in the application.
In June, a bench of three judges of the Court of Appeal rejected an earlier application by Mr Mwaura seeking to bar Ms Mburu from withdrawing the money until she pays him. But he went back to the High Court and filed another application and enjoined the bank in a bid to block the release of the money.
Sold to another person
In the dispute, Mr Mwaura sued the widow after she sold the five-acre parcel to another party in 2006. This was after an earlier deal he entered with Ms Mburu fell through because he failed to complete payment in time.
The two entered the deal in June 2005 for him to acquire the land for Sh16.5 million. He paid a deposit of Sh1.6 million and went looking for buyers before completing the deal.
Incidentally, one of the buyers he had identified decided to deal with the widow directly and acquired the entire parcel for Sh28 million.
Mr Mwaura claimed to have sub-divided and sold part of the land to third parties but Justice Grace Nzioka dismissed his case saying his deal with Ms Mburu fell through because he did not obtain consent from the land control board and for delaying the completion of the transaction for more than a year.
“Be that as it were, it is clear in the instant matter that the land control board consent was not obtained, therefore there is no valid sale agreement between the plaintiff (Mr Mwaura) and the 1st Defendant (Ms Mburu),” the Judge said.
No title
The judge also blamed him for selling the parcel of land to third parties when he had no title to the property.
“At the time of the sale of the suit property, the suit property to the 5th defendant was in the name of the 1st defendant not the plaintiff, and the 5th defendant paid the total consideration of Sh28,000,000. The property was transferred to it as far as 2006. The Plaintiff had not paid full purchase price nor put any record of encumbrance on the property,” the Judge said and ordered that he be refunded Sh1.65 million plus interest since 2005.
