High Court orders German investor out of Malindi hotel

German investor Hans Jurgen Langer and his wife have been ordered to vacate a disputed four-star hotel in Malindi.

Salama Beach Hotel, which has been renamed Tempo Beach Hotel, will now go back to Kenyan businessman Issack Rodrot and his Italian partner, Sefano Uccelli, the property's original owners.

Justice Weldon Korir's decision dated March 20, 2018 directs Watamu Police Station to remove Langer and his wife, Zahra, from the hotel as ordered by the Court of Appeal in 2017.

Korir’s orders enforce the judgement by appellate judges Alnashir Visram, W Karanja, and MK Koome dated December 5, 2017, dismissing Langer’s claim of ownership.

“Unless the applicants (Langer) seek review before the Court of Appeal or move to the Supreme Court, the only clear message is that this matter as it relates to the orders of April 30, 2015 has completed its journey in the corridors of the High Court,” said Korir.

The appellate court upheld Justice Juma Chitembwe’s judgement dated April 30, 2015 that gave back the hotel to Rodrot and Uccelli.

The court had established that Langer presented a judgement purportedly issued by the High Court in Milan, Italy, giving his company, Accredo AG, the right to claim ownership of the hotel from Ventagio International SA.

To prove the Milan judgement was fictitious, Ucelli, through his Italian lawyer, Taglioretti Farese Cicerchia Capua, produced in court a copy of the legitimate judgement.

“That Langer knew very well that there was no judgement from the court of Milan and yet he knowingly misrepresented to Ucelli and to the court that such judgement existed,” said the appellate judges.

In December 2009 Langer, in an affidavit presented before Justice Mohamed Ibrahim in Mombasa, said he acquired the hotel through a High Court order in Milan on December 14, 2001.

He told Ibrahim that a company named Adinos AG gave him the authority to recover Sh827, 420 from Viaggi Del Ventagglio following the Milan High Court decree in 2001.

Ibrahim, now sitting at the Supreme Court, allowed Langer to enforce the Milan decree, making Langer and Zahra directors and owners of the hotel.

Langer is now seeking over Sh700 million he allegedly invested in the hotel.