Uasin Gishu County Speaker swindled me property worth Sh21 million- Athlete

An Eldoret-based athlete is accusing Uasin Gishu County Assembly Speaker, Isaac Terer, of getting him into a scheme and swindling him of property worth Sh21 million, accusations Terer has denied.

Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, the 2007 World Athletics Final Stuttgart champion in men’s 1,500 metres, claims he regrets his partnership with Terer that began eight years ago.

He says the relationship has been very costly, leading to their downfall from grace to grass. He regrets his trust in Terer, whom he says he fully believed in as a confidant and adviser in both legal and other matters. He says that he could as well have squandered the money he earned from career.

Kipchirchir who has been a middle-distance athlete before shifting to marathon in 2014, claims he approached Terer to assist him to buy property, but the speaker later pulled a quick one on him and reportedly used the documents to have the wealth registered in his name, leaving him with nothing.

“In 2008, having competed and bagged some accolades in major races abroad, I was determined to make serious investment as security for my future. Terer was the first person I trusted when I thought of investment because he is a competent lawyer and had helped many other athletes and businessmen acquire property,” said Kipchirchir.

He says Terer secured a house for him in the posh Elgon View estate in Eldoret, but they never got to finalise the deal after it became evident that property was at the centre of a legal dispute. “He later struck another deal after his fellow lawyer opted to sell his own house.

Terer advised me to write a cheque of Sh5 million to the seller to secure the property since the lawyer apparently had not convinced his family about the sale of the house. He said we would sign the agreement later,” claims Kipchirchir.

He adds that his plan to create a lucrative investment portfolio came to naught after acquiring the house. He allegedly went ahead to also secure a five-acre piece of land in Kimumu area and paid the owner through the Speaker a sum of Sh12 million.

“On diverse dates between April 22 to 24 in 2008, I gave out another Sh8 million. The Speaker convinced me that I would sign the agreement once the money reflected in the client’s account. I later wrote another cheque of Sh1 million, bringing the total payment to Sh21 million,” he added.

He says he invested all the money he had in his bank accounts with the hope of turning his life around. Kipchirchir claims that his family is blaming him for being selfish “yet deep inside I know I have been swindled.”

“After selling some of the property soon after the subdivision of the land in Kimumu, I was never given even a single cent. When I persisted in demanding payment, he gave me a Toyota Rav 4, but he did not surrender the logbook,” Kipchirchir further claims.

“The Speaker is no longer picking my calls. I want him to return my property because it is all that I had and genuinely worked for,” said Kipchirchir. However, Terer who acknowledged Kipchirchir as being his client and a business partner, disputed claims that he owes his ‘good friend,’ and instead said it is the athlete who owes him.

“As his advocate, I took his instructions well and as a long time business partner, we mutually agreed on a number of deals. The genesis of his claim is a deal where we bought two parcels of prime land, namely Kimumu 12448/7 and 12448/8, which we subdivided into 36 plots to add value and resale for profit,” Terer told The Nairobian.

He says it was agreed that he will be the seller of the 36 plots, but the profits would be shared among them in accordance to their capital contribution.

“Kipchirchir became impatient because the plots were not selling as fast as he expected. He then asked me for alternative property for his capital contribution and expected profits,” said Terer.

According to Terer, they mutually agreed and he transferred 2.7 acres of prime land namely Pioneer Langas Block 1 Malel 499 that was his property to Kipchirchir at an agreed amount of Sh20 million.

“We settled the matter after I gave him the alternative plot in Pioneer, and after that, we continued our partnership and purchased another plot in town, namely Eldoret Municipality Block 7/176, adjacent to Barngetuny valued at Sh8 million and paid a deposit of Sh6.5 million,” added Terer.

Allegedly, Terer says, they realised the land referred to as Municipality Block 7/176 was in the middle of a legal battle between the owners, which forced them to ask for a refund of their money.

“The owners wanted to give us another parcel at their, but it was also at the centre of a succession row and we insisted they give us back the money. We went to court after several attempts to get back our money failed and the matter was ruled in our favour. But we are still waiting to recover the cash,” Terer explained.

According to the Speaker, as they were still waiting for a refund, Kipchirchir told him that the Sh5 million he had paid for the parcel was a loan from another athlete who wanted his money back.

“He had paid Sh1.5 million and I had to assume his debt as his partner and gave him my car KBP 964 H valued at Sh1.7 million to help pay the athlete whom we told we would fully pay when we recover the money,” said the speaker. The Speaker says he owes Kipchirchir nothing and claimed that the athlete’s challenges began when he took a loan of Sh9 million from a shylock with the Langas Block 1 Malel 499 as a security and when he failed to pay the loan, the shylock auctioned the entire parcel that was worth over Sh20 million.

“I owe Kipchirchir nothing. It is clear he has heard of my political ambitions and wants to take advantage to coerce me into bowing to unfounded demands. He knows my homes, my office in the assembly, my legal practice room and even my siblings. He cannot claim that he’s failed to trace me,” Terer said.

He said that the athlete tried to raise the matter with the Advocates Complaints Commission but had no case, and has thus resorted to unorthodox ways to cover his mess by tainting his name.