A former parastatal director is fighting to have his Ksh400 million Lavington mansion restored to his family.
A report by People Daily on Tuesday, March 2, indicated that former Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) Director Davy Koech had accused a businessman, Walter Kiprop Chumo, of illegally transferring the property to himself.
The plot is reportedly currently registered under Chumo's name in which the former director claimed was a move hatched by the businessman to defraud his family.
Appearing in court on Monday, March 1, Chumo, however, denied the claims explaining that the two had entered into a sale agreement on March 22, 2013.
In elaborate detail, the businessman narrated that Koech approached him with the intention of selling the property and settled on Ksh200 million as the transfer fee.
“The purchase price was agreed at Sh200 million and the same was paid as set out in the Agreement for Sale,” he stated.
He further noted that he proceeded to take out a loan of Ksh160 million from his bank, Housing Finance Limited, to settle the payment.
Koech, however, maintains that the property, which is 1.08 acres, was illegally transferred to Chumo's name and subsequently to Miriam Jepkosgei Maina.
Koech further argued that if he lost the property, his family would lack a place to call home noting that they have lived in the house since 2002.
He further argued that he had spent over Ksh60 million in the landscaping and construction of other structures in the Lavington home. The suit was filed in 2018.
Koech served as Kemri director from 1986 until he was suspended in 2007 to allow for the investigations of another case in which he, together with six other people, were accused of swindling the institute of ksh420 million.
