Tony Gachoka sued by his mother for selling family home

Political activist Tony Gachoka. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The mother of political activist Tony Gachoka has sued him for illegally using the family home to secure a Sh45 million loan from collapsed Trust Bank.

Margaret Njeri Muiruri wants the High Court to revoke Trust Bank’s sale of the Thika home, claiming that her son colluded with the bank’s owners and Phoenix Aviation general manager Shaun Warren Baretto to defraud her family of the property.

Mr Gachoka used the family home as security for the loan he obtained from the bank 24 years ago and defaulted on it, prompting the bank to auction it.

TITLE DEED

The home was registered to Central Kenya Limited, a company Mrs Muiruri co-founded with her late husband Joseph Muiruri Gachoka.

Mrs Muiruri incorporated her children in the company following her husband’s death in 1988. Mr Gachoka became a director of the company the same year his father died and took the Sh45 million loan in 1993 at the age of 23. He is yet to respond to the suit.

Mrs Muiruri told the court that the home had been charged to the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) for a Sh3 million loan and that she had asked her son to work with AFC in 1993 to clear the loan and free up the title deed.

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