A court has rejected the claim by a man that he is a son of the late businessman Fai Amario and subsequently locked him out of the Sh760 million estate.
Nakuru High Court judge Samuel Muhochi ruled that Mr Elvis Karee failed to prove that he is a son of Amario or that he was dependent on the estate.
Judge Muhochi found discrepancies in the documents presented by Mr Karee to prove his relationship with Amario who died in 2010.
A birth certificate dated March 5, 2010, submitted by Mr Karee, listed "Amario" as his surname and claimed the bearer was born in 1991.
However, this raised questions as the late Amario only adopted the name Fai Amario in 1999, eight years after Karee's alleged date of birth.
The court also noted that Mr Karee’s mother, Shinta Wambui, only met Amario in 1999, casting doubt on how the name Amario could appear on Karee’s birth certificate years earlier.
"The court is not persuaded that the applicant's mother would have assumed the name Amario, eight years before she got married to him," ruled Justice Muhochi on Tuesday.
Additionally, Mr Karee failed to prove he was financially dependent on the late businessman.
He did not provide any evidence of monetary support from the late tycoon or documentation of legal adoption, both of which would be necessary to establish him as a legitimate beneficiary.
In his application, Mr Karee sought to revoke the grant of letters of administration that had been confirmed to Mr Amario’s children.
On January 31, the court distributed Sh56 million of the estate among ten beneficiaries, including Marsha Dee, Miki Ng’ang’a, Bernice Njeri, Debbie Jolly, James Kimani, Sheena Euston, Yuri Gilbert, Sheila Wangari, a minor, and Salome Wanjiku, who was the tycoon’s girlfriend and received five percent of the Sh56 million.
Mr Karee argued that the grant was obtained through the concealment of material facts about his existence.
He claimed that he was unaware of the proceedings until January 2024 and further stated that Mr Amario, known to be polygamous, had married his mother Shinta following an advertisement he placed in a local newspaper searching for a wife.
He submitted a newspaper report as evidence of their marriage on September 11, 1999, in Nakuru.
However, the administrators of Amario's estate acknowledged that their father married Shinta but denied that Mr Karee was his biological son.
They also pointed out that a DNA test, which Karee had consented to, confirmed he was not a biological child of Mr Amario, a finding that Mr Karee did not contest.
Judge Muhochi dismissed Mr Karee’s application ruling in favour of Amario’s children Miki Ng'ang'a, Marsha Dee and Sheena Eustone and ordered him to pay the costs of the suit.
The late Amario was a key player in Kenya’s alcohol industry having founded Fai Amarillo Ltd, one of the country’s first indigenous alcohol distillers.
His estate valued at Sh760 million includes a winery in Naivasha worth Sh500 million, Den Hotel in Naivasha valued at Sh94.75 million, and other properties in Naivasha and Embu.
