SK Macharia's assets on the line after bankruptcy order

 

Media mogul S K Macharia is staring at a possible seizure of his properties after losing a court battle.

His properties might be seized to recover an outstanding debt of Sh293 million owed to Managing Director of Oceanfreight Transport Livingstone Waithaka.

And to begin the process, the State Law Office published a bankruptcy notice.

His trouble is arising out of some Sh500,000 which was paid as a deposit for him in the 1980s for a parcel of land in Nairobi whose value at the time was estimated to be Sh2 million.

The debt has since accumulated to Sh293 million.

Macharia challenged the issue in court on several occasions but lost.

Macharia and his wife Purity Gathoni challenged bankruptcy proceedings brought against him by the company after he failed to pay a debt, which stood at Sh34.8 million in 2009.

They had rushed to the Court of Appeal arguing that the High Court judge who heard the case failed to satisfy herself as to the existence of a debt or an act of bankruptcy.

According to them, Waithaka failed to offer any evidence at the bankruptcy hearing.

The couple also contended that the summary judgement granted by then High Court Judge Martha Koome was founded on fraud and that the Judge ignored the basis of the debt which they alleged had not been established.

Despite his protest appeal judges Justices William Ouko, Asike Makhandia and Gatembu Kairu ruled that Macharia and his wife have themselves to blame for failing to amend or contest the decree extracted and sealed.

“It remains a valid court decree to date,” the Judges had said.

In October 2001, then High Court Judge Kalpana Rawal (now retired) entered summary judgement against Macharia and his wife.

The judge directed the two to pay a sum of Sh500,000 with interest at 19 per cent per annum from December 6, 1986, until payment in full.

The two did nothing up until 2008 when they were served with bankruptcy notices.

They challenged the notices but the matter was dismissed by Justice Luka Kimaru on May 2008.

They filed several applications but which were subsequently dismissed.

The two denied owing the amount or that they had committed an act of bankruptcy and that they were capable of settling the debt.

The two filed a notice of appeal in 2001, expressing their desire to appeal the summary judgment but they did not serve it upon the company on June 13, 2011.

In their suit papers, they said the receiving order was pronounced on a fraudulent judgment and hence unjustified.

They conceded having received Sh500,000, from Waithaka but said the company owed them Sh1.5 million being purchase price.

Oceanfreight argued that by the time the Judge issued a receiving order against the couple, in January 2011, no appeal had been filed.