Why Salasya could lose Land Cruiser over Sh 500,000 debt

An auctioneer in Kakamega has been granted orders to seize the property of Mumias East MP Peter Salasya for failure to pay a debt worth Sh500,000.

The Kakamega Small Claims Court (SCC) has asked the police to give the auctioneer adequate security as he moves to attach the MP’s sports utility vehicle for failure to pay up the debt.

Ms Caroline Cheruiyot, the Small Claims Court Magistrate granted Armok Auctioneers the right to be protected as they attach the vehicle. 

A businessman Mr Robert Lutta obtained the orders to sell the vehicle as he seeks to recover Sh500, 000 he claims he gave the MP as a loan.

On November 27, the Magistrate asked Mr Salasya to pay the businessman Sh500,000 plus interest as it dismissed his counterclaim against paying the debt as inadequate, implausible and dissuasive. 

“I order that the Officer in Charge of Shianda (OCS) Police Station, or any nearest police station officer in the rank of OCS to provide adequate security to M/S Armok Auctioneers to proceed and attach the proclaimed property (Land Cruiser KDK037L),” reads the order by Ms Cheruiyot.

The auctioneers attached the high-end car after searching and confirming that the vehicle belonged to the MP. 

A logbook belonging to the vehicle was tabled before the court detailing its engine power rating (4600cc), colour (gold), and year of manufacture (2016) among other details.

“The counterclaim by the respondent (Salasya) was inconsistent. He first claimed that he had personally loaned the claimant (Lutta) Sh1 million which he (Lutta) was repaying, only to change during the hearing by saying that he loaned the money through a proxy,” reads part of the judgment. 

“The proxy in question, one Mr Bernard Kemba, could in turn not even identify the claimant (Lutta) even after an identification parade was carried out in court.” 

The court noted that the businessman had a bank transfer proof to back his claim that he loaned Salasya the Sh500,000 that he refused to pay, the latter lacked binding evidence to show that he loaned Lutta the alleged Sh1 million.

Mr Lutta sued the MP through lawyer Edwin Wafula, on October 23 last year alleging that he innocently loaned Salasya the amount in the hope that he would refund it in two months but had since become elusive.  

“Being a friend for so many years I accepted to advance him the amount on December 13 last year (2022),” he says in his court papers.  

“On the material day, I proceeded to the Kenya Commercial Bank -Mumias Branch where I made a direct transfer of the Sh500,000 to the personal account of the MP who promised to refund the amount within two months from the date of the transaction.”  

Lutta regretted that the MP had failed, refused, neglected and ignored to refund the amount despite frequent reminders. 

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