Four years after Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) placed the landmark EnglishPoint Marina under receivership, one of Kenya’s most valuable hospitality developments remains at the centre of an escalating legal battle over transparency, accountability and the management of billions of shillings worth of assets.

At the heart of the dispute is a simple but persistent question that has echoed through multiple High Court and Court of Appeal proceedings since 2022.

Where are the receivership accounts?

Despite the luxury marina continuing to generate income from its hotel, serviced apartments, restaurants and marina operations, parties in court have repeatedly sought orders compelling receiver-manager Kamal Anantroy Bhatt to produce detailed financial records showing how revenues have been collected, spent and accounted for.

The repeated requests span several court files, including Commercial Case E201 of 2022, Court of Appeal Civil Application E261 of 2022, Civil Appeal E092 of 2023, and more recent High Court applications filed in 2024 and 2026. bhatt-investigation.docx

EnglishPoint Marina was once marketed as one of Kenya’s flagship Vision 2030 private-sector developments.

The waterfront complex overlooking English Point Creek in Mombasa comprises a 26-room boutique hotel, 96 luxury apartments, eight penthouses, restaurants and marina facilities.

KCB appointed Mombasa insolvency practitioner Kamal Anantroy Bhatt as receiver-manager in May and June 2022 after moving to enforce lending facilities initially valued at more than Sh5.2 billion.

Pearl Beach Hotels Limited, whose shareholders include members of the Kanji family and Nazir Bhadurali Nurmohamed Jinnah, challenged the receivership, obtaining temporary High Court orders before the Court of Appeal suspended those orders and allowed the receivership to continue pending appeal. bhatt-investigation.docx

In August 2023, the receivership expanded to Pinewood Beach Resort in Diani, another property pledged as security for the same lending facilities. bhatt-investigation.docx

What has remained remarkably consistent throughout the litigation is the demand for financial disclosure.

Court applications have sought receivership accounts, bank statements, revenue reports, management accounts, payment vouchers, reconciliations, inventories and asset registers covering the period the properties have remained under Bhatt’s control.

The argument advanced by the applicants is straightforward.

A receiver exercises statutory and fiduciary powers over assets belonging to others. Stakeholders are entitled to know what money has been collected, how it has been spent, what assets remain and whether the administration has maximised value for creditors.

After years of continued trading, they argue, meaningful scrutiny cannot occur without complete financial records.

The scrutiny surrounding EnglishPoint Marina now forms part of a broader examination of Bhatt’s growing insolvency practice.

According to court records and Gazette notices reviewed in the accompanying investigation, Bhatt and Anant Bhatt LLP have accumulated appointments over several high-value insolvencies, including EnglishPoint Marina, Pinewood Beach Resort, Glee Hotel, White Rhino Hotel, Eastland Hotel and Nairobi Upperhill Hotel, alongside the liquidation of United Insurance Company. The investigation estimates the disclosed value of estates under the firm’s management exceeds Sh21 billion. bhatt-investigation.docx

That expansion has intensified public interest in how insolvency practitioners account for assets placed under their control.

Separately, Bhatt is facing an unrelated but significant High Court challenge concerning the liquidation of United Insurance Company.

According to court applications filed by creditors, they are seeking to compel him to produce bank statements, invoices and payment vouchers relating to approximately Sh151.8 million allegedly spent from estate funds without distributions having yet been made to verified creditors. Those allegations remain before the High Court and have not been determined. 

The investigation states that creditors have asked the court to examine the liquidator under oath and compel production of financial records, while Bhatt’s responses in the proceedings have so far focused on procedural objections rather than substantive accounting. Those matters remain pending before the court. 

The EnglishPoint Marina litigation has therefore evolved beyond a dispute between a borrower and its lender.

It now raises wider questions about how Kenya supervises receivers and liquidators entrusted with multi-billion-shilling businesses, the transparency expected when companies continue trading under receivership, and whether existing oversight mechanisms adequately protect creditors, investors and other stakeholders.

The investigation further notes that complaints concerning aspects of the Pearl Beach Hotels receivership have reportedly been lodged with professional bodies, although Kenya Insights states it was unable to independently verify those complaints or their status. bhatt-investigation.docx

For now, EnglishPoint Marina continues operating under receivership.

Its hotel welcomes guests, apartments remain occupied, restaurants continue serving customers and marina operations generate revenue.

Yet after four years, the central issue before the courts has changed little.

The books remain closed.

Until the financial records sought in multiple court proceedings are produced, or the courts determine they need not be disclosed, the questions surrounding one of Kenya’s largest hospitality receiverships will continue to cast a shadow over the country’s insolvency regime and test public confidence in the accountability expected of court-appointed office holders.