Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju together with his children sued a bank, demanding Ksh3.1 billion for violation of a mutual contract.
In the case filed at the High Court and East African Court of Justice (EACJ) in Arusha, Tuju claims that together with his children suffered irreparable damage after the bank grossly violated the contract.
The bank in 2015 had agreed to give Tuju a loan of Ksh1.2 billion through his Dari restaurant for the acquisition of a 22-acre forested land named Entim Sidai in Karen and purchase of a 94-year-old bungalow.
Tuju had also applied for another loan from the same bank of Ksh943 million that was meant to finance his plans to acquire the property previously owned by Scottish missionary Albert Patterson, who was operating a high-end restaurant and 14 rooms.
Jubilee Secretary-General had planned to use part of the funds to Ksh294 million to finance the construction of 12 luxury two-storey bungalow homes to be sold at Sh100 million each.
Tuju in his case argues that failure by the bank to release funds made the project fall behind schedule and his company defaulted on repayment saved the way for the seizure of his assets.
Tuju in court papers also argued that being sure that he was going to acquire the loan he sold four houses off-plan, where the would-be house owners paid installments. But, he further argues, failure by the bank to release Ksh294 million led to the collapse of the project, forcing him to refund the funds he had injected in the project.
"We insisted that we sign an agreement, committing the bank to ensure the deal of Sh1.2 billion goes through so that we would not risk forfeiting the 10 percent payment for the land. The condition in the land payment was that the transaction needed to go through in 90 days," read the court papers, in part.
Tuju further states in the court papers that the bad deal led him to lose a Dubai-based investor who was willing to invest in the project.
The bank escalated the matter, suing Tuju at the UK High Court. The bank was seeking to auction Tuju, but the decision was quashed by the court of appeal.
He resolved to file the case at EACJ after the bank challenged his appeal, gaining immunity to be tried at local courts.
