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Businessman and former Equity Bank chairman Peter Munga has won a court case at the High Court against his former friend and business partner Joseph Muturi Kamau. This is after the High Court dismissed the Sh150 million suit against Munga that had been filed by Muturi.
At the same time, the High Court ordered Muturi to refund Munga Sh42.9 million which Munga had paid to Equity Bank to offset a loan on his behalf. This had been done as part of a shares deal that involved trouble company TransCentury. Muturi has also been ordered to pay the businessman Sh2 million in damages for misrepresentation.
The two former friends turned foes have been having the long-running court battle over some Sh150 million which Muturi claimed the businessman had refused to pay him.
Muturi had alleged that since 2011, Munga had refused to pay him and his firm Bethany Vineyards for three million TransCentury shares which were worth Sh150 million that he purchased from the firm.
Muturi sold the shares in 2011 at Sh50 each to Munga after failing to settle a Sh40 million loan he took from Equity Bank. The deal was to see the businessman clear Muturi’s loan and remit the balance to him and his firm.
However, court papers showed that Munga only cleared the loan balance but did not remit to him or Bethany Vineyards the balance.
The former Equity chairman had filed his first application seeking to bar Kamau from proceeding with the case in a court application that was dated application February 24, 2017. The application was dismissed by Judge Fred A. Ochieng.
At one point during the court fight, Munga is said to have asked to be allowed to settle the case with Kamau outside the court. He offered to pay Kamau Sh90 million. However, Muturi declined the offer and returned to court asking for the full amount.
In the current ruling, the judge said that the oral agreement of the shares between Munga and Muturi was null and void.
“I hereby issue a declaration that the oral sale of the shares agreement is null, void, and unenforcable. It is rescinded forthwith,” Lady Justice Njoki Mwangi ruled. “It is my finding that there is no evidence from the plaintiffs [Bethany and Muturi] to show that the shares were successfully transferred to the third defendant.”
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