Former President Daniel arap Moi. PHOTO | FILE
Former
president Daniel arap Moi may oppose the withdrawal of a suit against a
lawyer who claims he saw him sign a controversial land transaction that
has evolved into a protracted dispute in which he appears to have sold
the same property to two different buyers, a trial court was told
Tuesday.
Mr Moi’s lawyer, Fred Ngatia, who was not in
court but sent a representative, says he may want to personally comment
on the withdrawal of the suit that named lawyer Paul Ndung’u and the
firm, Ndung’u Njoroge and Kwach Advocates, as respondents .
Then
a lawyer at Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews, Mr Ndung’u stated that he
witnessed Mr Moi’s signature in the sale of the property to DPS
International on November 10, 1988, while he was still president.
On
Tuesday, the presiding judge, ruled that the suit was marked withdrawn
since the civil procedures rules allows the plaintiff to hold sway,
meaning Mr Moi cannot stop the withdrawal of the suit against Mr
Ndung'u.
The suit against Mr Ndung’u was lodged by Dr
George Kiongera who first stated he bought the land from Mr Moi at Sh500
million before Equity Bank CEO made the same claims, saying he bought
the plot from the former head of State for Sh300 million.
Dr
Kiongera’s lawyer, Dancun Okatch, confirmed in court that the suit has
since been withdrawn after consultations with the parties involved.
The
judge ruled that the withdrawal would not prejudice any party in the
proceedings, but allowed Mr Moi to lodge a formal application to oppose
the withdrawal if he so wishes.
It was agreed that the
motion to oppose the inclusion of Mr Ndung’u and the firm in the
proceedings “was technically spent” as it has since been withdrawn by
its author, Dr Kiongera.
Not a party to suit
Senior counsel Paul Muite who is representing Mr Ndung’u said that Mr Moi was not a party to the suit concerning his client.
“This
particular suit does not concern the former president and Mr Okatch has
confirmed that as far as his client is concerned there is no dispute,”
Mr Muite said.
Mr Ngatia’s representative said the
complexity of issues in the case warrants “his personal presence in
court so as to make comments on what he intends to do about the
withdrawal.”
The senior lawyer was said to be held at the Supreme Court and had requested a further mention when he can be present.
At
the same time a lawyer who was adversely mentioned in the transaction
involving Dr Mwangi has applied to be enjoined in the proceedings as an
interested party.
Lawyer Katwa Kigen will be
representing Mr Samson Omwansa Ombati and Mr Andrew Sunkuli who are said
to have been involved in the controversial transaction involving Mr Moi
and the Equity Bank boss.
The twists in the case seem
far from over, especially now that USIU which is also claiming ownership
of the plot has applied “to amend its plaint.”
The
university is the third claimant having stated it bought it from an
insurance company, which had bought it from the DPS International.
DPS
sold the property to the Insurance Company of East Africa (ICEA), which
subsequently sold it to the United States International
University-Africa (USIU-A).
The case will be mentioned on January 18, 2017 for further directions.
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