Zedekiah Kiprop Bundotich popularly know  as Buzeki is the billionaire businessman behind the Buzeki transport business.

However, over the last few years, Buzeki has been hitting business headlines for all the wrong reasons. He has been embroiled in a bitter fight for debt amounting to over Sh. 1 billion with the NCBA Bank Group and trailer manufacturer Bhachu Industries.

Buzeki’s debt problems first came to light in 2020 when the NCBA Group told a court that he had a debt of up to Sh. 2.7 billion.

This debt was disclosed in an appeal against an auction suit that was filed by NCBA.

The NCBA Bank, which is associated with the Kenyatta family, was seeking to block Landmark Port Conveyors Ltd from auctioning 53 trucks and trailers belonging to Buzeki over a Sh. 118 million loan.

NCBA said that the 53 trucks and trailers are part of the 289 trucks and 141 trailers bought using the Sh. 2.7 billion loan.

The bank told the court that it is holding moveable and immoveable properties belonging to Buzeki, including the 53 trucks and trailers. These properties are security for the loan of Sh. 2.7 billion.

A year earlier, in 2019, the High Court had allowed Landmark to auction the vehicles to recover Sh. 118 million after Buzeki defaulted on a debt repayment agreement signed in November 2018.

The debt dispute stemmed from a deal in which the haulage firm had entered into a sale agreement with Landmark, a freight and warehousing firm, on August 7, 2015, to purchase two pieces of prime land worth Sh. 340 million in Mombasa.

Landmark paid Buzeki Enterprises Sh. 105 million for the deal in which the transport firm was expected to discharge a mortgage accrued in one of the properties after receiving the deposit but failed to do so.

Buzeki later asked Landmark to review the agreement, prompting the latter to demand a refund of its money. Landmark moved to court and successfully managed to attach the 53 trucks and trailers in contention.

In January 2021, Buzeki withdrew an appeal seeking to stop the sale of 53 of his lorries over the Sh. 118 million after reaching an agreement with Landmark.

The court marked the case as withdrawn although the court was not told how the businessman, through his company Buzeki Enterprises, would pay Landmark Port Conveyors.

Buzeki’s debt problems compounded in October 2022 when the High Court dismissed an attempt by the NCBA Bank Group to strike out an insolvency case filed against Buzeki Enterprises Ltd by Bhachu.

NCBA was seeking to have the case dissolved on grounds that the Sh. 94 million debt being sought by Bhachu is not clear.

NCBA had told the court that it would be against the law to try and liquidate the firm over an unclear debt. It also said that the case should have been filed in Mombasa where Buzeki has offices.

However, Justice Wilfrida Okwany determined that the contract between Buzeki and Bhachu was drawn and executed in Nairobi and the trailer manufacturer did not err in filing the case in Nairobi. “I, therefore, find that this court has the jurisdiction to hear and determine the petition,” he ruled.

Bhachu had filed the case to liquidate Buzeki 24 months ago after the trucker failed to pay off debts he owed the trailer manufacturer.

Davinder Bhachu told the court that Buzeki purchased several tippers in 2011 and his company paid for them through cheques which bounced.