Presidential candidate Jirongo's Sh102 million property put on sale

Cyrus Jirongo, presidential aspirant 2017 on United Democratic Party. PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI

Cyrus Jirongo, who at the height of his political power was identified with a Sh500 note, on Wednesday suffered a setback when he failed to block the sale of his property worth over Sh102 million.

The presidential candidate and former Cabinet minister failed to block the sale of his 102.3 acres of land, situated along Kitale Road in Trans Nzoia County after the High Court declined to block an auction.

The property that is situated in Sambu at Maili Saba trading centre was advertised for auction in local daily last week.

However those present during the auction were unable to raise the required deposit of Sh69 million.

Valley Auctioneer, had demanded a 25 per cent deposit at the fall of the hammer during the auction and then the balance in 90 days.

Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation placed Mr Jirongo's Kuza Farms & Allied Limited under receivership alongside other companies that had defaulted on their loans owed to the collapsed Dubai Bank at the time the lender was placed under statutory management.

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) through its agency KDIC, wanted to recover Sh495 million owed to Dubai Bank.

But Jirongo moved to court challenging the decision to place his company under receivership over the debt, arguing that he only borrowed Sh100 million and not the Sh495 million the bank was asking.

According to court documents, Jirongo says his firm borrowed the Sh100 million from Dubai Bank in the form of a debenture in 2009, a debt the presidential aspirant insists was fully paid.

"The sum of Sh495,289,931 demanded by the defendant is astronomical and not based on any contract," reads part of his documents in court.

He further claimed that Dubai Bank was yet to furnish him with a statement of its account despite paying Sh117,040 that the collapsed lender demanded as costs for being furnished with the documents.

The matter was before Justice Grace Nzioka who failed to block the land sale.

Kuza Farms was last year listed as one of Dubai Bank's largest loan defaulters in an audit report by Crowe Horwath.

Another firm associated with Mr Jirongo, Sololo Outlets, was also listed as a defaulter after failing to service a Sh103 million loan for more than three months.

In July 2016, CBK said it would take court action on the defaulters, seize their assets and report them to credit listing bureaus.

At the time Dubai Bank was placed under receivership, it was holding Sh1.7 billion in deposits. It then appointed receivers for the prime property in the agricultural rich region.