The High Court has upheld the sale of former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju’s Tamarind Karen and Dari Business Park, ruling that his right to rescind the transaction ended once the auction was concluded and the property was transferred to Stabex International Ltd co-owner Jackson Kiplimo Chebett in 2024.
However, in a reprieve for Mr Tuju, the court suspended the sale of a second property, Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary, on condition that he deposits Sh50 million in court within 30 days.
Regional lender East Africa Development Bank (EADB) is seeking to auction the properties to recover a loan advanced to Mr Tuju in 2015. The lender is claiming about Sh4.5 billion.
“The plaintiff (Tuju) to within 30 days of deposit security in the sum of Sh50 million in an interest-earning joint account in the names of counsel for the parties, failing which the stay order shall automatically lapse,” the court said.
The court also directed Mr Tuju to file an appeal challenging the planned forced sale within 60 days of the ruling. Failure to do so will result in the stay order being automatically discharged.
Mr Tuju and his company Dari Ltd moved to court seeking to suspend the enforcement of the ruling delivered on March 9, as he challenges the sale before the Court of Appeal.
In the ruling, the court struck out Mr Tuju’s application and lifted an order that barred EADB and its agents from selling the properties.
The regional lender sold the property to Ultra Eureka ltd, a company owned by Stabex International Ltd co-owner Mr Chebett, for Sh450 million on October 1, 2024.
After acquiring the property, which sits on a 6.8 acres land, Ultra Eureka Limited disclosed that it charged the property’s title to the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) for a $2.5 million (Sh324 million) loan.
The company told the High Court that it legally bought the prime Nairobi property at Sh450 million after the EADB exercised its statutory power of sale.
Mr Tuju used the property, alongside Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary as collateral for a $9.3 million loan advanced to Dari Limited by EABD in April 2015.
The former Jubilee Party secretary-general previously argued that the lender breached the loan agreement and that the amount EADB sought to be recovered- $35,051,622 (about Sh4.5 billion)- was way above the principal amount. He also challenged a valuation report used by the bank, to seek buyers of the properties.
The valuation reports allegedly conducted in July 2025 placed Tamarind Karen and Dari Business Park at Sh590 million as the market value and Sh442.5 million for forced sale.
The report also placed Entim Sidai at Sh1.395 billion as the market value and Sh1.046 billion for forced sale.
The High Court on Thursday said in respect of Dari Business Park, Tuju’s equity of redemption was extinguished upon the fall of the hammer. The court said the law was clear that once such a sale has taken place, the remedy available to an aggrieved chargee lies in damages pursuant to Section 99 of the Land Act.
“... no substantial loss has been demonstrated in respect of that property. However, the position is different with regard to property that remains unsold, that is LRR number 11320-3, which is in Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary,” said the court.
The court observed that once the property is sold, the substance of the appeal will be irreversibly altered, potentially rendering the appeal nugatory.
“In those circumstances, and bearing in mind that the leave to appeal has already been granted, I find that substantial loss, substantial evidence has been demonstrated, but only in respect of that property,” said the court.
