Equity Bank puts property firm under receivership

Equity Bank has taken over a property development company over debt.

In a notice dated yesterday, the bank announced the appointment of Muniu Thoithi and George Weru as joint receivers and managers of Muga Developers Ltd effective February 10, 2020.

“Following the appointment, the receivers are conducting the affairs and businesses of the company. The powers of the receivers extend to all assets and undertakings of the company,” read the notice in local dailies.

“The powers of the directors in terms of dealing with the company’s business and assets ceased on the appointment of the receivers.”

This comes hot on the heels of a dispute pitting Suraya Property Group and Muga Developers against Chinese contractor China Wu-Yi, in which the latter sought 10 houses in Phase One of the Fourways Junction as part of the payment for their services.

Equity Bank granted the developers Sh1.76 billion credit for the project.

Muga Developers has been in the middle of controversy over the control of Fourways Junction Estate, a development with an estimated value of Sh30 billion in Kiambu County.

Nancy Wanja Gatabaki and her daughter Josephine Beatrice Gatabaki, in mid-2019, filed a suit against Peter Kiarie Muraya and Susan Wacheke Muraya for forging signatures in the registration of the company.

The Murayas are famed for real estate behemoth Suraya Property Group, which they founded in 2006.

Muga Developers was also sued by its customers in 2014 for what they termed ‘hoodwinking’ after services they had been persuaded to pay for when buying the houses were not provided.