Suraya property buyers lose out as court okays sale

Fourteen buyers of one of Suraya’s distressed estates have lost their bid to stop the auctioning of the property after they failed to produce a sales agreement as evidence that they paid for the units.

This means that the auction of Suraya Group’s land at Fourways Junction on Kiambu Road by Transnational Bank will proceed. The land is registered to Classix, an affiliate of Suraya Group owned by the once flamboyant couple Peter and Susan Muraya.

The plaintiffs had asked the High Court to temporarily stop the auction of the property, noting that they had an interest in it, having paid for the units before they could be developed under the off-plan scheme.

However, Justice David Majanja, noted that the buyers did not present a sales agreement to show that they had an interest in the property.

Transnational Bank, majority owned by a Nigerian lender, said Classix owes it Sh111.3 million which continues to accrue interest. According to the buyers, Peter and Susan Muraya, had put together a scheme with the intention of defrauding them.

They have sued the couple, together with all their companies, arguing that the couple had hoodwinked them into buying the property knowing too well that they could not, or had no intention to execute the project.

Besides asking the court to stop the auction of the property by Transnational Bank and having its management moved under their care, they also wanted Equity Bank sanctioned for being an accessory in the “fraud” by the Surayas.

They had argued that Equity knew about Suraya’s scheme.

However, the judge struck out Equity from the suit, noting that the lender was not an interested party to the property, having hived off the one it had interest in.

Justice Majanja refused to grant them their request for failing to furnish the Court with the sale agreements between them and Suraya Sales, Suraya Group’s sales agent, or any of the firms associated with the Surayas, to show that their interest on the property was more than that of Transnational Bank.

“In the absence of these agreements, which form the basis of the contractual relationship, I cannot say the plaintiffs have established a prima facie case with a probability of success in relation to the registered interest of Transnational Bank,” said Justice Majanja in a ruling on August 13.

Besides the Murayas and their four companies, the buyers had also sued Equity Bank and Transnational Bank, even as they continued with a separate case in which they are looking to recover their money from the Murayas.

Irate investors

The court said that the deal was between Transnational Bank and Classix which had borrowed some money from the Nigerian-owned lender.

On its website, Suraya Group indicates the Classix property as still on sale, with prices starting from 6,490,000. The Classix Premium, the write-up on the website goes, is a new concept of home ownership, and targets premium first time home buyers.

The Murayas are besieged, running away from irate investors while sparring with banks and contractors in courts. Their debts run into billions of shillings.

Most of Suraya’s properties have fallen under the hammer. Of the 14 projects, only three have been completed and were snapped up by banks and auctioned.