Retired Africa Inland Church (AIC) Bishop Silas Yego has lost his grip on apartments valued at Ksh200 million in Kileleshwa, Nairobi.
A report by Business Daily on Thursday, February 4, indicated that the bishop lost the prime property after a court dismissed his suit defending his ownership.
Yego, who was the spiritual guide to President Daniel arap Moi, had defaulted on a loan of Ksh153 million and the bank was seeking approval to auction the property in order to recoup its finances.
In his appeal, the bishop was seeking to have the court allow him a four-month window period to strike a repayment plan with a local bank where he had taken the loan.
The bank was previously associated with the Moi family but has since changed hands to West African investors.
"Like the court of appeal held, the plaintiff is indebted to the bank and nothing now stands in the way of the bank exercising its statutory power of sale," ruled the judge.
In his court documents, Yego noted that after a court in Nairobi dismissed his injunction application in 2020, he reached out to the bank for a way forward over the debt.
He also told the court that he had found a buyer and was looking to sell the property at a value of Ksh200 million from which he would deduct the funds to settle the loan.
He also noted that he had been selling his other properties to settle the loan but the bank had been adamant.
He took out the loan of Ksh140 million in 2014 which he used to construct the 50 apartments.
His project then ran into headwinds after some of the buyers of the apartment changed their minds leaving him vulnerable to the bank.
In his papers, however, he lamented that the institution had undervalued the property and that the loan balance was Ksh86 million and not the value presented.
The judge, after analysing the matter, ruled that the bishop had defaulted the property in 2019 and that he repeatedly failed to fulfill his promises over the debt. He retired in 2019.
