Buzeki Enterprises: Businessman and politician Zedekiah Bundotich Kiprop who is popularly known as Buzeki has found himself in the middle of an auction battle with NCBA. This follows an auction suit against Buzeki’s transport firm, Buzeki Enterprises which has revealed that he owes NCBA Sh. 2.7 billion.
According to a report that appeared in the Business Daily on Tuesday, 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, is seeking to block Landmark Port Conveyors Ltd from auctioning 53 trucks and trailers belonging to Buzeki over a Sh. 118 million loan. NCBA says that the 53 trucks and trailers are part of the 289 trucks and 141 trailers bought using the Sh. 2.7 billion loan.
“The High Court last year allowed Landmark to auction the vehicles to recover Sh. 118 million after Buzeki defaulted on a debt repayment agreement signed in November 2018. NCBA, however, appealed the High Court decision saying it had a stake in the financing of Buzeki’s 53 trucks and trailers hence their sale by Landmark would dilute the security of the loan owed by the haulage firm,” the report in the Business Daily said.
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.
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“The lender told the court that it had become the owner of the assets and that Landmark had no right over them. It sought to stop Landmark from selling the 53 trucks and trailers, which have since been attached by Moran Auctioneers,” the report said.
Justices Roselyn Nambuye, Hannah Okwengu and Daniel Musinga on Friday ruled in favour of NCBA’s concerns. “If the properties are sold, and the bank succeeds in its appeal, the appeal may be rendered nugatory as the bank will have already lost the securities for the amount loaned to Buzeki,” the bench ruled.
This means that the trucks disputed by NCBA will not be sold. “They also directed NCBA to deposit Sh. 60 million in an interest-earning account within 30 days, failing which Landmark will be free to sell the trucks and trailers. The debt dispute stems 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,” the report said.
It further stated: 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.