A Nairobi contractor has been ordered to pay Ksh3 billion to a businessman after they fell out over prime property along Riverside Drive.
A report by Daily Nation indicated that the contractor and the businessman fell out over a decade ago, after the construction of the said property.
Court documents showed that one company, Synergy Industrial Credit Limited, paid Ksh750 million for some two blocks of the property, including the one that hosts Dusit D2 hotel.
The court heard that the contract was awarded to Cape Holdings, but the contractor is alleged to have refused to handover the property after construction was complete.
In 2015, an arbitrator ordered the contractor to refund a total of Ksh1.66 billion, which included accrued interest, to the businessman.
Cape Holdings moved to the High Court to contest the award which was effectively quashed in its favour.
Synergy then moved to the Court of Appeal over the matter where it achieved victory after the court ordered the contractor to pay the businessman Ksh3 billion including interest accrued over time.
A three bench judge consisting of Kathurima M'Inoti, Fatima Sichale and Jamila Mohammed poked holes in an earlier ruling by High Court quashing the award.
They explained that the High Court Judge did not tackle the real question, but quickly ruled the award as erroneous.
"This was tantamount to undertaking a merit review of the arbitral award, based on consideration of provisions of the written agreements far removed from the arbitral tribunal, which we think the learned judge was not entitled to do," ruled the judges.
Witnesses had told the court that the agreements were part written and part oral before the contractor agreed to sell the units.
The purchase price of the units at the time was Ksh700 million, and Synergy is said to have paid Ksh577 million by the time they fell out.
