The succession battle pitting members of the late businessman Fai Amario's family took a fresh twist Tuesday.
This was after a man claiming to be the son of the late Naivasha businessman filed a petition in court seeking a share of the Sh760 million estate.
Elvis Karee's move came as a blow to ten members of Amario's family who are the beneficiaries of part of the estate estimated at Sh56 million that Justice Samwel Mohochi directed to be distributed among them on January 31, 2024.
The court decision appeared to have ended a 14-year-old estate dispute between Amario’s children Marsha Dee and her elder brother Miki Ng’ang’a.
Nine of the beneficiaries include Dee, Ng’ang’a, Bernice Njeri, Debbie Jolly, James Kimani, Sheena Euston, Yuri Gilbert, Sheila Wangari, a minor.
Five percent of the estate was given to Salome Wanjiku, believed to be a former girlfriend of the late businessman.
However, four months after the Judge ordered distribution of the estate, Karee, 33, has come out to demand a share of the same.
In his application, he wants the court to revoke the grant of letters of administration issued to Dee, Ng'ang’a and Euston on September 23, 2010.
“The administrators obtained a partial confirmation of grant through deliberate concealment of material facts of my existence,” he says.
Despite the case being in court for 14 years, Karee said he only found out that it had been filed after the partial confirmation was done in January.
He claims that he is a biological child of Amario who was deliberately left out of the list of beneficiaries despite the administrators being aware of his existence.
Karee wants the court to stop the three administrators from distributing the estate until the case is heard and determined.
“The sale and distribution of the assets will be prejudicial to me because I will be disinherited from the estate and my rights will be violated,” he says.
He argues that his alleged step-siblings are planning to file summons for confirmation of the entire estate, without his name and he wants to be recognised as a member of the family.
According to Karee, Amario was polygamous and he married his mother, Penninah Shinta (deceased) after he placed an advert in local dailies while searching for a wife.
According to the report in the dailies, filed as evidence, Amario married Shinta in Nakuru on September 11, 1999.
“The administrators are aware I exist. They knew my mother. They never informed me of the proceedings and the case was filed in 2010, while I was still in high school,” he says.
Karee claims that his inclusion will cure the mistakes made in confirmation of the grant of the estate.
The court directed him to serve his application within seven days. The administrators have 14 days to reply before submissions are filed.
Ng’ang’a filed the succession case in 2010, seeking the grant of letters of administration and the power to distribute the estate.
However, Dee filed an application to stop Ng’ang’a from managing Amario’s estate.
She submitted that since their father died on May 23, 2010, her brother has secluded her from the estate.
“My brother took advantage of my condition (disability) to leave me out of decision-making for the benefit of the estate,” she said.
Dee went to the extent of refusing to attend a meeting where consent was signed by the nine other beneficiaries on July 20, 2023. The consent was adopted by the court.
Amario was among the first major suppliers of cheap vodka, wine and spirits.
The court will give its verdict on Karee’s application on July 9.
