Masto Holding Limited has lost a court battle over a disputed piece of land in Upperhill, Nairobi.
Environment and Land court judge Kossy Bor dismissed the application saying that the controversial plot reference No. 209/522/2 (L.R Number 3255/1) belongs to Judith Wanjiru Njenga, an elderly woman who has been battling to win back the property.
“The court finds that the plaintiff (Masto Holding limited) has failed to prove its claim on a balance of probability and it is hereby dismissed,” the judge ruled.
The company claimed that Wanjiru’s late husband Andrew Njenga charged the suit property to Co-operative Merchant Bank limited to secure repayment of a loan of Sh10 million which led to the auctioning of the land.
Wanjiru however, denied that her late husband ever took a loan of 10 million as alleged by Masto and maintained that no documentary evidence of the loan and default by her late husband has ever been provided. She further denied knowledge of the auction.
She admitted that her late husband entered into a transaction with the General Manager of Co-operative Merchant Bank limited sometime in 2001 where he presented his title to the bank as a guarantor to secure a loan previously borrowed by Gwama Enterprise limited.
The widow argued that her late husband executed the charge on 6th June 2001 but Anthony Kamunda, the then General Manager of Cooperative Merchant Bank limited died before any transaction went through.
The court heard that Masto did not produce evidence to show that it was the registered proprietor of the property as its directors did not bring original title documents.
Justice Bor ruled that Wanjiru proved that the alleged auction of the property did not take place.
It is alleged that hired goons entered the property and tried to evict Wanjiru a few years ago.
However their efforts were countered by the then Nairobi Senator Mike Mbuvi Sonko now Governor.
Her attempts to get other documents in relation to the alleged sale of the suit property were futile and she was only given copies of the charge but not the letter of offer or the statements relating to the loan.
Wanjiru stated that she purchased the suit property with her late husband in 1974 who passed away in 2010 and that they built their matrimonial home on it and have been in possession of the suit land to date.
