• One of the Suraya group properties is due for auction next month.
• The Murayas are alleged to have 'gone underground' with the investors' money
Investors have accused the Suraya Property Group of defrauding them of millions of shillings.
The more than 200 prospective homeowners say in statements recorded with DCI detectives that Peter Muraya and his wife Susan had gone underground with their money.
Most of the those interviewed outside DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road said a local bank has announced the auction of one of the group’s prime developments on Kabarnet Drive off Ngong Road.
"The property has been advertised for auction in one of the dailies," one of the investors said.
The apartment block is being auctioned advertised by Keysian Auctioneers. According to one of the investigators, there are about 600 investors facing the problem.
The investors have gathered at the DCI to follow up on their earlier report about the scandal at Suraya.
They said they recorded statements two weeks ago and want the Murayas to be arrested and charged with fraud. They said when they deposited their money, they were promised that the project would be ready by 2015 but nothing had been heard from the developers.
They said about 600 investors had been conned of billions of shillings.
Among the losers are Joseph Laban (Sh6.9 million) Josephine Muriuki (Sh8.5 million), Ruth Kamau (Sh4 million), Shadrack Munyoki (Sh2.1 million) and James Maina (Sh2 million).
Susan Kariuki said in a statement to DCI that she and her Jiendeshe Women Group bought three units in 2013 with the aim of renting them out to members in 2015.
They wanted to buy homes at Lynx Royal apartments on Muchai Drive. The property comprised 52 bedsitters, 20 studios, 47 one-bedroom units, 37 two-bedroom units and 45 three-bedroom units. It is one of the projects the investors had paid for in 2013, hoping to move in by 2015.
“Under instructions of our principals, the charges, in the exercise of their statutory power of sale, we shall sell by public auction the mentioned properties and all improvements erected thereon,” the Keysian Auctioneers advert listing the apartment block for sale said. The sale will be on July 3, from 11am.
The property is among a list of projects that Suraya has been accused of not completing within the stipulated sale agreement timelines. This has led to a state of panic among investors, most of whom had paid up to 80 per cent.
Other Suraya properties include Fourways Junction Phase II, and Loneview apartments on Mombasa Road.
The investors said the announcement of the sale of Lynx Royal apartments contradicts an earlier statement by chief executive Muraya that the firm had acquired a Sh1.6 billion loan from two banks to complete its mega housing projects.
Edited by R.Wamochie