Former powerful Cabinet Minister Raphael Tuju has put Garam Investment Auctioneers on the spot, alleging that the firm cannot prove that it sold his property over a Sh4.5 billion debt that he owes the East African Development Bank (EADB).
Tuju had stormed the auctioneer’s offices in Westlands on today, August 25, the day two of his properties were to be put under the hammer. No bidders turned up, however. The drama came on the same day that he published a full page “buyer beware” advertisement in the Standard in which he claimed that there was an attempt to forcibly sell two of his properties, the bespoke seven-acre Dari property on Ngong Road, and the 20-acre Tree Lane land, both in Karen.
Tuju had used the two properties to secure a loan from EADB ostensibly to build luxury villas for sale. However, the development was never actualized and Tuju has fallen behind on his repayments. As a result, EADB sought interventions in courts in the UK and Kenya, obtaining orders to flog the property to recover its monies.
According to the advert, Garam allegedly sold the Dari property in 2024 but today, Tuesday August 25, Tuju said that the auctioneer had failed to produce the bid bonds after he requested for the same.
“We were not able to trace the date when they did it,” he said, referring to the alleged sale of the Ngong Road property that also has a high-end restaurant and conference facility among other amenities.
He also took issue with the valuation of the property, arguing that the auctioneer used valuations for 2015, over ten years ago, thus implying that the property was under-valued.
“We had issues with the valuations,” he told journalists as the management of the auctioneers warned him to vacate the premises. “The law requires that a valuation should not be more than one year.”
A property valuation is valid for at most three years.
“We are still in court,” he said, referring to three cases that are still pending determination: One in the Milimani Law Courts, one before the Commercial Division of the High Court and the third in the Supreme Court.
The Nairobi Law Monthly had in April this year published an in-depth investigative article detailing how the former minister without portfolio in the then President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration found himself in the massive debt trap and how he had been caught up in an intricate web of court cases, many of which were ruled against him. Tuju also served in various capacities in the then President Mwai Kibaki’s administration, including as Information minister and later Foreign Minister.
You can find the link to that investigative article here: https://epaper.nairobilawmonthly.com/
In the advert, Tuju said the court cases surrounding the distressed properties had been in court for over seven years.
“Bona fide buyers not sponsored by political interests should be aware of the ongoing litigation and not claim to have been innocent land buyers after this caution,” he said.
Today, he said: “We have to fight this impunity”, claiming that there were many Kenyans who were facing a similar predicament as a security officer asked him to vacate the premises.
“The management does not want you here,” the officer said. “Please speed up.”
To which Tuju replied: “You can see the level of rudeness we are being subjected to.”
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