The Rai billionaire brothers are at war over the leasing of troubled Mumias Sugar Company. One of the Rai billionaire brothers, Jaswant Singh has joined a suit that is protesting the leasing of the company to Sarrai Group which is run by his brother Sarbi Singh Rai. Jaswant Singh is the chairman of the Rai Group. On Tuesday, he tabled a new set of figures to back his claims that he had been the highest bidder for Mumias through his company West Kenya. He alleged that Sarrai, which won the lease was the lowest bidder.
Sarrai Group was due to take over Mumia Sugar after winning a lease agreement that would see it run Mumias for a period of 20 years.
According to Jaswant, his bid was for Sh. 36 billion yet Mumias was being leased out at a bid of Sh. 6 billion by Sarrai. He further said that Sarrai has no track record of sugar production in Kenya, and questioned its financial stability and viability to operate in Kenya.
Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises had initially lodged a Request for Review of the tender procedure on December 29, 2021 with a view to have the tender nullified over irregularities.
The firm argued that while the eight bids were opened in a transparent manner and in the presence of the eight bidders, the order by High Court judge Justice Okwany on August 30, 2021 that the tender documents be made available to all parties and the public were not followed.
Billionaire Rai sons in bitter fight over multi-billion wealth
The firm says the Ponangipalli Venkata Ramana Rao, the Receiver Manager and Administrator of Mumias Sugar In Receivership did not share any contents of the tenders but instead requested all the bidders’ representatives present to sign the financial pages of the eight tenders submitted and opened.
It is not the first time that the Rai brothers are going at each other’s necks. In 2021, family members went to the High Court in protest over a Will that was left behind by the family’s patriarch Tarlochan Singh Rai who died on December 28, 2010, in Mumbai, India. Jasbir and Iqbal objected to the Will. The two sons argued that the family patriarch could have been coerced into crafting the Will that distributed his assets among his eight beneficiaries. The Will is dated December 17, 1999. The executor of the Will is Jaswant.
