The fight over the late politician and tycoon Njenga Karume's massive estate has taken a dramatic twist, with the trustees accusing three of his children of interfering with the operations of companies owned by the businessman and the Trust itself.
Led by Karume's sister, the trustees released a detailed account of how they managed the estate with the beneficiaries pocketing Sh163 million as at December 31, 2013.
In
an affidavit filed before the civil division of the Milimani High Court last Thursday, Margaret Kamithi, on behalf of the other three trustee, accused Karume's children Albert, Samuel and Lucy of lying to the court with regard to the management of the Trust.
The children had gone to court last month claiming the trustees have not taken care of the beneficiaries and are wasting the Trust's assets. Consequently, they obtained a court order stopping the trustees from interfering with immovable assets in Karume’s estates, including Pizza Garden and Jacaranda Hotel.
But in their papers filed on Thursday, the trustees accuse the children of lying to the court by concealing material facts on the case.
Kamithi claimed the three lied to the court by failing to disclose that the issue relating to their father's Trust is scheduled for an interpartes hearing on June 9. She said the children failed to convince the family court to give them the ruling issued by the High Court in November last year.
The trustees accused the children of moving from court to court with the hope of getting a favourable ruling.
"As a result of the orders made by the honourable court on March 27, we now have a situation where two courts of concurrent jurisdiction have exercised their discretion differently based on the same facts," Kamithi says in court documents.
She denied that the trustees neglected Karume's beneficiaries and were involved in destroying or wasting assets of Jacaranda Holdings Ltd.
Kamithi said the trustees had paid sh21.8 million in fees to international universities, sh3.7 million to local universities and a further sh7.7 million to local schools for the beneficiaries.
Kamithi said more than Sh10 million had been spent on medical expenses for the beneficiaries while Sh16.5 million was monthly upkeep allowances paid to nine beneficiaries, excluding students in school.
The trustees accused the children of lying to the court that they were not aware of the refurbishment being undertaken at Jacaranda Hotel, Pizza Garden and Indian Ocean Beach Resort in Mombasa.
Kamithi said one of Karume's children sits on the board of Jacaranda Holdings and was fully aware of the refurbishments at the Indian Ocean Beach Resort having opened its doors to clients last Thursday.
She confirmed that the trustees get an allowance which had been approved by Karume while alive.