Tatu city firms pull out of legal wrangle

Tatu City Ltd sponsor Stephen Jennings (right) at a press conference. Tatu City Ltd and its main local subsidiary Kofinaf Ltd were given the green light by a court on October 28, 2015 to withdraw from their legal dispute. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Tatu City Ltd and its main local subsidiary Kofinaf Ltd, were given the green light by a court Wednesday to withdraw from the dispute.
  • The hearing of the dispute though has been temporarily suspended after Mr Justice Eric Ogolla declined to disqualify himself from handling the case.

Two firms of the controversial Sh240 billion Tatu City have pulled out of a four-year legal tussle.

Tatu City Ltd and its main local subsidiary Kofinaf Ltd, were given the green light by a court Wednesday to withdraw from the dispute.

On September 16, all the directors of the two companies held a board meeting at the project site to thrash out the bad blood among them.

The foreign shareholders have accused their local partners, led by former Central Bank of Kenya Governor Nahashon Nyagah and industrialist Vimal Shah of attempting to alienate and transfer more than 2,000 acres of land illegally.

The two investor firms claimed they had been side-stepped in the management and financing of the mega project.

The hearing of the dispute though has been temporarily suspended after Justice Eric Ogolla declined to disqualify himself from handling the case.

The court’s deputy registrar has approved an application by Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi seeking the withdrawal of the two firms from the civil suits, involving ownership of huge tracts of land in Kiambu County that have been the epicentre of the protracted legal intrigue.

Audit firm PriceWaterHouseCoopers, recently declined an assignment to scrutinise loans advanced to the companies to buy land.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has been investigating Mr Nyagah over allegations that he used close relatives and cronies to irregularly transfer shares worth Sh5.3 billion fraudulently from the parent company.

A recommendation for his prosecution has already been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions for action.

However, he was shielded from arrest by a court pending the outcome of his questioning the validity of the investigations.

Two lawyers, Mr Nelson Havi and Mr Michael Osundwa, have similarly been shielded by the court from prosecution after they were linked to the “irregular” changes in the shareholding and directorship of one of the firm’s subsidiaries, Purple Saturn Properties, that is connected to Mr Nyagah.