Tatu City trio off the hook as court drops criminal charges
What you need to know:
- The High Court declared the criminal proceedings against Steve Mwagiru, his mother Rosemary Wanja and a lawyer, Robert Githui, an abuse of the criminal process
- The three had moved to the High Court to block the director of public prosecutions and the attorney general from prosecuting them
- Tatu City, designed as a high-end residential and commercial city, is projected to be valued at more than Sh240 billion ($3 billion) on completion
The High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against minority shareholders of the stalled multi-billion-shilling real estate development, Tatu City.
The court declared the criminal proceedings against Steve Mwagiru, his mother Rosemary Wanja and a lawyer, Robert Githui, an abuse of the criminal process.
The three moved to the High Court to block the director of public prosecutions and the attorney general from prosecuting them.
“The respondents are restrained from charging the petitioners with a criminal offence on the basis of the caveats which are the subject matter of the other suits,” ruled Justice Mumbi Ngugi.
Declined to award
But the judge declined to award any compensation for damages and directed all parties to bear their legal costs. The three Tatu City shareholders were in December 2011 accused of forging documents indicating they were the only bona fide directors of the company.
They were alleged to have forged a document purporting it to be genuine and issued by an assistant registrar of companies and using forged title deeds to discredit the shares of fellow majority directors.
The minority shareholders listed the attorney general, Tatu City, Kofinaf Company and director of public prosecutions as respondents.
Court battles
Mr Mwagiru and Ms Wanja have been engaged in protracted, multiple court battles with the majority shareholders led by Moscow-based investment bank Renaissance Capital, which they claim blocked them from the running of affairs of the project.
The High Court in January this year ordered majority shareholders of the project to buy out the minority, noting that they had irreconcilable differences.
Justice Daniel Musinga directed that the value of the one share each be determined by an independent arbitrator, saying that the relation between the two parties had been damaged with the only remedy being disengagement.
Tatu City, designed as a high-end residential and commercial city, is projected to be valued at more than Sh240 billion ($3 billion) on completion.
It is planned to accommodate more than 22,000 residents on a 1,000 hectare estate.
