A group of Chinese investors is now occupying prime property in the upmarket Lavington area that has been the subject of a long-drawn and unresolved court battle.
Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has been caught up in the controversy after she moved to help the investors launch a mega project for the construction of a 47-storey apartment complex a day after a court issued orders directing that no activity should take place pending the determination of a suit currently before Lady Justice Pauline Nyamweya.
The property has been in the hands of the Vohra family who are prominent investors in the hotel industry under the Sarova Group.
The ceremony was staged a day after a judge had directed a status quo over the ownership of the property which the plaintiff claims has been inherited through generations.
An Environmental and Lands Division court was moved under a certificate of urgency to stop the “official grabbing” of the multi-million-shilling property, which lies on Ndemi Road along Ngong Road within Nairobi County.
While the hoteliers were steadfastly clinging firmly to their property, a senior political figure was trying to reach out to the lawyer of Samvo Limited to woo him to abandon the court battle over the two-and-a-half acre property for a “lifetime fortune”.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has also not been left out of the saga.
Three suspects who were allegedly involved in pulling down a house built on the land were prosecuted from a police station away from that jurisdiction.
The suspects were charged by Muthaiga police station instead of Kilimani police station under which the land lies.
The suspects were charged by Muthaiga police station instead of Kilimani police station under which the land lies.
This leaves unanswered questions as to why Muthaiga acted in an area it does not watch.
Samvo Limited, who claim to be the registered proprietor of the land in question, then obtained an order on May 9 from Lady Justice Nyamweya prohibiting Delta Haulage Services Limited from developing or interfering in any way with the disputed parcel.
Delta has claimed ownership of the land and has been involved in litigation with Samvo from 2007.
The judge said the order she gave would remain in force pending the hearing and determination of the two suits filed in 2007 and 2012.
Documents from the Commissioner of Lands filed in court show that the property, as at 1998, belonged to Samvo Limited, a company under the Sarova Group, and in 2013, City Hall received land rates of Sh102,340 from the hoteliers.
The two suits will be heard on Tuesday.
On Friday last week, lawyer Musalia Mwenesi for Samvo told the court that Delta or their agents or their assigns, agents and/or foreign investors should be restrained from developing or interfering with the suit land pending its hearing and determination.
He also urged Justice Nyamweya to compel Kilimani police station to assist in enforcing the order so as to maintain the status quo of the premises.
But going by the grand launch officiated by Mrs Ngilu, the land is now slotted for a multi-billion-shilling housing investment meant for more than a 100 residential homes.
Mrs Ngilu is on record as asking police to protect Chinese investors.
She made the remarks during the inauguration ceremony of the Chinese housing project — Fountain Garden Apartments — by Catham Properties Limited owned by Mr Guo Dong two weeks ago.
Mr Mwenesi said that despite the Lands ministry being aware of the suit and a pending ruling touching on the suit property, it went ahead to authorise development.
“It will subvert justice if the foreign investor continues developing the land whose ownership is the subject matter of a suit pending determination in court for over seven years,” the lawyer said.
“My client is apprehensive that the development is being done hurriedly to subvert justice and in a bid to take advantage of the current embargo at Ardhi House’s central registry,” Mr Mwenesi argued.
In June 1999, Commissioner of Lands Sammy Mwaita, through an allotment letter, officially issued a clean sheet to Samvo Limited and consequently gave them the title deed for the property that July.
Delta Limited also claims ownership of the land, saying the ministry of Lands issued them with the land documents and a title deed in December 22, 1999.
The Delta Limited suit was, however, dismissed for lack of merit and an order of maintenance of the status quo issued in 2012. They consequently initiated an eviction application and later alleged that the file for the property had disappeared.
They alleged that one of Samvo’s directors, Mr Swarana Devi Vohra, transferred the property to them through a correspondence file at the Ardhi House.
The Lands Ministry, however, denied the claim, saying that “any document or conveyances without corresponding records at the master registry are either fake or forgeries.”
Samvo Company asked the court to strike out the accusations by Delta Haulage.
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