•Wanjiru alleges that her property has been sold to an investment company
• Bank claimed she failed to clear her loans and auctioned her seven-storey house
Image: FILE
Justice Mary Kasango has opted out of a case involving a 70-year-old widow battling to save her Sh150 million property allegedly auctioned by a bank over a loan.
Instead, Kasango directed that the case be heard by Justice David Majanja on November 8 after trial failed to start on Thursday.
Alice Wanjiru claims in the past seven years she has battled to keep her property.
The property was illegally sold to an investment company based on a false claim that she defaulted on repaying a Sh65 million loan.
“It was a well-calculated scheme by Faulu Microfinance Bank Ltd to defraud me of my hard-earned property. They failed to disclose my monthly financial statements, refused to account for the money they collected from my premises and ended up selling it a throwaway price,” she says.
In her affidavit, Wanjiru says she bought the three-storey building situated in Jonsaga, Huruma estate in Nairobi, in 1991 from Jason Mwangi at Sh16 million.
For the purposes of acquiring loans to finance construction projects, she opened an account with Faulu Microfinance.
“Between March 2013 and May 2015, I applied for various loans amounting to Sh65 million to finance working capital and construction of a seven-storey building,” she says.
Under the terms of agreement, the bank was to collect all monthly rent from tenants as part of repayment and she would top up the remaining balance from her other businesses.
According to Wanjiru, trouble commenced when the manager handling her bank account was transferred to Ongata Rongai branch.
“I continued to repay the loan until January 2017 when Antique Auctioneers served me with a default notice and gave me 45 days redemption period,” she says.
Wanjiru says in March 2017, an auction advert was circulated by Antique Auctioneers under instructions from the bank to recover Sh73 million when the statements indicated she only had an outstanding loan of Sh7 million.
Antique went ahead to sell the property to Oksama Investment Supplies Limited, which is now laying claim to it.
Wanjiru then reported to the Banking Fraud Investigation Department who following a probe arrested six people, Oksama Investment Supplies Limited and the auctioneers.
Those arrested were charged with conspiracy to defraud Wanjiru of her property valued at Sh150 million.
The case is still pending determination at the chief magistrate’s court.