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A son of former spymaster James Kanyotu wants the Director of Criminal Investigations(DCI) to conduct an investigation over the illegal transfer of 500-acre parcel of land belonging to the family.
The multi-billion property in Ruiru is owned by Marriot, having bought it from Trendsetters Investments Ltd in 2012.
Trendsetters on its part says it purchased the land from Kangaita Coffee Estate, belonging to Kanyotu, for Sh700 million in 2011.
In a letter to DCI, Willy Kihara wants the said Registrar to be investigated over the illegal transfer, saying the land transaction in Thika, estimated to be worth over Sh10 billion, was done despite a court order barring any dealings over the parcel.
“The land was initially transferred to Trendsetters Investments Ltd, before it was later transferred to Marriot Africa International Ltd. The same people have been sending threatening messages, warning me to desist from fighting to reclaim the land,” he said in the letter.
According to Kihara, he believe some of the accomplices of the said Registrar are the ones sending him threatening messages to end his life for effort to recover the land.
Kihara revealed that Marriot Africa International Ltd and Trendsetters Investments Ltd are one and the same entity, owned and controlled by Pattni.
He said copies of CR12 from the Registrar of Companies showed that the two companies share the same physical and postal address, which he says he personally knows belongs to Pattni.
Marriot moved to court in 2019 after part of the Kanyotu family placed caveats on the land, cautioning third parties from purchasing the expansive farm in Ruiru.
The company sought to block Kanyotu’s family from reclaiming the land and named Margaret Nyakinyua Murigu, Mary Wanjiku Kanyotu, Kihara and Kangaita Cofee Estate as respondents in the case.
Kihara and other beneficiaries of Kanyotu’s estate have disputed the sale to Trendsetters saying that the land, measuring approximately 205 hectares, is subject to a succession case pending at the High Court.
The family has disputed the sale saying Kangaita Coffee Estate has bank accounts into which proceeds from the sale of any property belonging to the estate ought to be deposited.
But in the case of the land in Thika, no money was deposited into any of the accounts for distribution to the beneficiaries or settlement of estate debts.
“That the family of the late James Kanyotu did not approve any of the sales and/or transfers and the same have been done illegally under the nose of this honourable court,” he said.
In an affidavit filed in court, Kihara further reveals that sometime last December, Mr Pattni approached him through a proxy for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute. He says that the proxy told him Pattni was willing to return 150 acres and pay some money for the deal.
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