A city businessman has dragged former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo back to court, accusing him of grabbing his land in Runda and putting up a real estate project worth over Sh2.5 billion.
In court papers seen by cnyakundi.com the victim, Mr Kimani, alleges that Kabogo conned him out of the land that hosts Iguta Paradise Homes, a plush estate completed in 2018.
The project consists of 60 housing units, each four-bedroomed with several luxurious features and finishings.
According to the petitioner, each unit was valued at Sh30 million but Kabogo sold each house for Sh42 million.
He adds that Kabogo took possession of the property and evicted him and his siblings in 2016, leaving them homeless.
The legal battle over the land has been running for six years and the matter now sits at the Court of Appeal, which will determine whether the businessman will get a slice of the pie.
Kimani initially sued for Sh387 million.
The High Court ruled in Mr Kabogo’s favour in 2018, holding that there was no formal contract signed between the parties.
The judge ruled that in the absence of a formal contract and evidence that Kabogo was to hold the land in trust for Kimani, the court had no powers to proceed with hearing the dispute.
He challenged the judgment at the Court of Appeal, which is now expected to make a determination on whether to uphold the previous decision or to order that the case be retried.
Records show that Kimani owned the properties in the 1990s and he used them as collateral for loans worth Sh15 million from NIC Bank (now NCBA) and ICDC.
They issued the loans to his company “Kenya Modern Digitals”.
In September 2000, NCBA threatened to auction the properties to recover its Sh10 million and interest of 20 per cent.
This prompted Kimani to approach Kabogo to help offset the loans and save the land.
Kabogo was to hold on to the title deeds in trust as the two decided whether to sell when land prices shot up, or go into a joint real estate project.
Kimani notes that profits were to be split equally. But in 2006, Kabogo became rather elusive.
Whenever he tried to check the status of the land or to have the agreement put in writing, the politician could not be found.
He later discovered in December 2017 that Kabogo was putting up dozens of units on the land and sued him at the High Court in Thika, seeking Sh387 million as compensation.
