Businessman claims fake documents used to throw him out of property

A city businessman wants a bank stopped from evicting him from his property in Parklands until police complete investigations into possible forgery of documents used to auction the land.

Zaverchand Ramji Shah claims a fake court order was used to transfer his disputed piece of land. Paramount Universal Bank auctioned the land in April 2008 after he defaulted on a loan facility from the bank.

The land has since changed ownership thrice as Ramji fights to have it back, accusing the bank of using the wrong details to sell his land. The matter is pending in court.

Following suspicion of a forged court order, Ramji’s lawyer Osundwa Sakwa petitioned the judiciary to establish the authenticity of the contentious order, which was found to be fake.

“Accordingly, the purported order of 3/5/2019 is not genuine and it is subject to our investigations,” said S.A Opande, deputy registrar, in a letter dated July 16, 2019.

Ramji went to court after the bank auctioned the land for defaulting. The bank, then known as Universal Bank Ltd before merging with Paramount Bank Ltd becoming Paramount Universal Bank in 2000, gave notice of intention to auction the land should he continue defaulting.

“Please take notice that unless you pay the said sum together with interest as aforesaid within twenty-one days from the date of service of this Notice, the Chargee may without further communication sell the whole or any part of your property,” reads the Notice from Kaplan and Stratton Advocates.

The businessman is also contesting particulars that were used to auction the land, arguing they belong to a different piece of land and person. He has told the court that L.R No. 209/4201, IR No 9821, measuring 0.287 Hectares belongs to Zaverchand Sojpal Shah and Shantaben Zaverchand Jatha.

His parcel is L.R No. 209/6/13, IR No. 30866/9 whose size is 0.2617. while Garam Investments, which carried out the auction, has since disowned the exercise claiming it is not in the panel of auctioneers contracted by the bank.

“We confirm we have only dealt with L.R No. 209/4201 and not L.R No. 209/6/13 and the property was never auctioned as debtors negotiated with I & M Bank and the auction cancelled,” says Walter Odhiambo in a letter to Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).