Equity Bank has deposited Sh6.5 million as ordered by a court to set in motion the hearing of a dispute between it and a High Court judge over the bungled sale of a Sh65 million residential house in Nairobi.
Through lawyer Cecil Miller, the bank on Thursday told Commercial Court judge George Odunga that the bank had deposited the funds in an interest earning joint account at the Standard Chartered Bank in the names of Mr Miller and Mr Justice G.B.M Kariuki’s advocate, Mr Macharia Kahonge.
Mr Justice Odunga directed the parties to appear before him on February 28 for further directions.
The sum is the equivalent of 10 per cent deposit the bank supposedly received from Mr Justice Kariuki as the offer to purchase the property on May 19 for the purpose of drawing the sale agreement, which he claims was breached.
Equity has been permanently restrained from selling residential house in the upmarket Lower Kabete area of Nairobi, pending the determination of the dispute.
In December, Mr Justice Odunga said Mr Kariuki had surmounted the first requirement for the granting of an interlocutory injunction.
The judge also agreed with Mr Kariuki’s argument that damages would not be an appropriate remedy as the plush residential house was unique, convenient and befits the property the judge had been looking for.
“I agree that damages may not necessarily be adequate as he might not get a similar property in a similar location,” said Mr Justice Odunga.
Mr Kariuki moved to court on May 30 and Mr Justice Muga Apondi temporarily barred the bank from interfering with the property pending the conclusion of the dispute.
The bank is accused of accepting an offer to purchase the house complete with a swimming pool and elaborate block of servant’s quarters, from a third party after the judge had concluded the contract to own the property.
Mr Kariuki submitted that the bank’s unlawful action in the transaction was laced with deception and impropriety and designed to fraudulently subvert the sale of the suit premises and defeat his constitutional rights.
Further the judge’s lawyer Mr Kahonge told the court that his client had suffered loss and damage by going to great lengths to organise funds for the purchase of the property L.R. 2951/284 at Lower Kabete in Nairobi.
Posted on BUSINESS DAILY on April 5, 2013
