The Koinange family petitioned the High Court to demolish Village Market and Tribe Hotel, claiming owners of the mall grabbed their land.
The mall owners say they bought the seven-acre piece of land to develop the KES 15B shopping complex.
The children of former provincial commissioner Charles Karuga Koinange want the court to declare them owners of the property and evict Greenhills Investment, which owns the mall and is associated with the Ehsami brothers.
They claim the owners of the Village Market and Tribe Hotel must have acquired the title to the land fraudulently and should therefore be evicted and made to pay them damages for illegal occupation or compensation at the current market rates.
The Koinange family wants the Sh8.5 billion loan that Greenhills tapped from KCB Group to develop Village Market be declared invalid.
Greenhills reckons that State records show they own the prime land and has petitioned the High Court to enjoin the Land Registrar in the suit to indicate the owners of the property.
Built nearly three decades ago, the Village Market was one of the first shopping malls in Nairobi. It started out with 10 shops, continued to expand and has remained a popular venue over the years with hundreds of outlets.
The owners of the mall say they bought the seven-acre piece of land that was full of coffee bushes to develop the shopping complex estimated to be worth over Sh15 billion.
According to Koinange family attorney Ashford Muriuki, the Karuga’s children have attached documents proving Charles to be the owner, dated back to November 1983.
As a result, they argue that the property was never sold or transferred to Greenhills or a local bank which has advanced loans to the investment firm based on the land.
The family wants the court to revoke the title granted to Greenhills and revert it to the Koinange estate.
In their view, the Village Market and Tribe Hotel have fraudulently acquired the land title and should be evicted.
The family has demanded compensation for the alleged illegal occupation at current market rates or that Greenhill Investments be required to pay damages.
He also gave a local bank that has been drugged into the alleged ‘fraudulent dealings’ 14 days to file its response in the case.
The beneficiaries of former provincial commissioner Charles Karuga Koinange filed the suit on October 6. Charles was the second son of former colonial chief Mbiyu Wa Koinange.
His children – Peter Mbiyu Koinange, Isabella Wanjiku Karanja, Samuel Karuga Koinange have accused GreenHills Investments Limited and the local Bank of working in cahoots to grab the property.
Through their Lawyer Ashford Muriuki, the trio have attached documents dated back to November 1983 showing Charles as the legitimate owner. They claim the property has never been sold or transferred to GreenHills or the bank (defendants).
The property forms part of the prime assets belonging to the Koinange family. It is also to be distributed among the three beneficiaries. But the process, according to their Lawyer, has been halted owing to the illegal transactions and charges existing on the property.
The administrators have asked the court to intervene and cancel GreenHills title and order rectification of the register to reflect their name as proprietor of the property.
They also want them ordered to surrender the property in default, they be evicted and made to pay damages for illegal occupation or compensation at the current market rates.
Also sought is an order stopping the defendants from selling, transferring or dealing with the property situated at Gigiri.
“We have discovered that the defendants have illegally and fraudulently acquired the property without our consent. They have done so by obtaining an illegal charge on the property sometime in 2016 all in favour of the bank, ” they claim.
The complex which is built in Gigiri, Nairobi’s diplomatic zone, is home to over 150 outlets.
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