Court Orders City Tycoon To Pay Sh4.7M To A Client After Breaching A Contract

A Nairobi-based tycoon will now have to pay Sh 4.7 Million debt in installments to his property clients following a court order.

Amos Gichuki Ngonjo has been ordered by a Nyeri High court to pay his clients Sh 600,000 and another Sh 200,000 by the end of December as part of payment of Sh. 4.7 million debt.

Nganjo had been issued with a warrant of arrest together with two others namely Ramadhan Maulid Juma, Simon Matara Gichuhi who are Bonafede directors of Loldaiga Country Homes and Golf Resort Limited defaulted in settling a Sh. 4.6 million debt after being ordered to do so in a civil suit that was concluded in 2019.

Nganjo’s clients James Gichuhi Mutero and his wife Joan Wairimu had moved to court seeking a refund of the purchase price of the land they paid him of Sh 2.5 M for a project that never kicked off.

Through their lawyer Kenneth Maina, they wanted a rescission of contract between them and Nganjo because it was long overdue and the golf project they paid for had not kicked off.

“My clients are seeking damages for breach of contract and costs of the petition, “he added. Court ruled in the couple’s favor and the Tycoon was ordered to pay.

The businessman recently appeared before court after an arrest warrant for defying an order to settle the said debt.

Nganga Munene, a lawyer appearing for Mr. Ngonjo had argued before court that his client is committed to settling the debt by first paying Sh. 600 000 promptly then settling the balance in installments of Sh 200, 000 every month.

Maina on the other hand told the court that the defense lawyer had earlier shared with his clients the debt payment plan, telling the court that this was rejected given that it will now take 22 months for the money to be cleared in full.

Maina had even doubted the commitment by Mr. Ngonjo to pay the money as proposed, noting that the case took long to be concluded after being halted when defendants to the case sought an out of court settlement that they later declined to honor.

 In her ruling, the Environment and Land Court Deputy Registrar Edina Angima raised concerns on the time taken to settle the debt from the time of judgment in 2019 but indicated that the matter will come up for mention on January 24.

The Deputy Register also ordered that the tycoon to remain bound by cash bail terms of Sh100 000 that was granted time when he appeared in court upon an arrest on Wednesday last week.

She also ordered the defendants to come up with a more reasonable offer to pay the debt by the said mention date.

The business mogul appeared on Wednesday in a Nyeri court over failure to pay Sh.  4.7 Million to clients as ordered by high court.

Mr. Maina had in his submission had asked the court to commit Mr. Ngonjo to civil jail for failing to make the payment as ordered.

The arrest came after Mr. Ngonjo and two others namely Ramadhan Maulid Juma, Simon Matara Gichuhi who are Bonafede directors of Loldaiga Country Homes and Golf Resort Limited defaulted in settling a Sh. 4.6 million debt after being ordered to do so in a civil suit that was concluded in 2019.

The suit against the three was filed by couples James Gichuhi Mutero and Joan Wairimu Mutero in the Environment and Land court in Nyeri seeking for a refund of Sh. 2.5 million, an amount that in total rose to Sh 4.7 million when damages and other expenses and fees for the executing officers are included.

The couple had bought two residential plots, first one measuring one acre at Sh. 1 Million and the second measuring half an acre at Sh. 1.5 Million in 2012 after the defendant to the case advertised for sale of plots on a golf course in Nanyuki same year.

However, the couple got irked to the extent of filing a suit after realizing that no implementation of the project that entailed construction of a golf course was taking place and they could only get verbal promises from the defendant that the project would take off.

Mutero had used his pension money to pay the land for the ghost project and as well convinced his wife to also invest and did so by obtaining a loan only to realize later that it was a ghost project.

In the judgment delivered at by the said court and presided by judge MC Oundo orders were issued to have the contract between the two aggrieved parties rescinded.

The court also gave orders for a refund of purchase price to the complainants of Sh. 2.5 million, nominal damages of Sh. 1.5 million for breach of contract and other amounts catering for costs of suits and interests all amounting to Sh. 4.7 Million.

The arrest warrants of the two other directors are still in force and they still are being sought by the court bailiffs. They have been ordered to pay that waiting for more directions.