A businessman has gone back to the High Court seeking to stop the auction of his three properties in Nairobi to cater for the upkeep of his former wife, which so far stands at Sh40 million.
Mr Suresh Nanalal Kantaria says in the application that the properties are set to be auctioned on January 21, 2025.
According to Mr Kantaria, deputy registrar of the High Court Saitabau Lesootia ordered the sale of the properties in a ruling on November 4, yet his appeals are pending.
“That if my application dated November 19, 2024 is not heard, I stand to lose my entire lifetime investments, which I need to remain alive,” he said in an affidavit.
Mr Kantaria and Ms Mradula were married on March 16, 1974, in Mombasa but the couple later moved to Nairobi.
His former wife filed for divorce in 1997 and the marriage was annulled two years later on February 18, 1999.
The High Court later directed him to pay his former wife and daughter Sh100 million for maintenance but the businessman appealed against the decision and a bench of three judges reduced the amount to Sh350,000 per month in a decision in 2015.
The court also directed the properties be sold. Ms Mradula succesfuly argued for the property to be attached and sold to recover the arrears, arguing that she has not been paid the upkeep for the last nine years.
The properties targeted for sale are two houses and plot in South C, which are valued at Sh28 million and another property in Gigiri.
The court had also directed that Sh15 million from the proceeds of the property in Nairobi’s South C, should be paid to Prime Bank, for a loan the businessman borrowed.
The woman has opposed the case, arguing that the former husband has allegedly refused to transfer to her 25 per cent of the three properties as ordered by the Court of Appeal, nine years ago.
“Even if the said execution proceedings were to be set aside and commenced afresh before the Honourable judge, the outcome would still be the same as the Court of Appeal judgment stands,” she said.
She added that setting aside the orders as prayed by Mr Kantaria would only delay the finalisation of the matter, which she pointed out has been in court for 27 years, including nine years since the Court of Appel determined the appeal.
“There is absolutely no justification for any further delay of the execution process that is now at its tail end,” she said in an affidavit sworn in December 2.
Mr Kantaria had earlier filed the application to stop the auction but Justice Hillary Chemitei pushed the hearing to March next year, prompting him to file yet another application seeking an early hearing date.
He said the extent that the court has allowed the sale of his property was in contravention of his right to property and the execution remains illegal.
“The execution proceedings ought to have been before a judge since December 18, 2022 but this has not happened,” Kantaria said.
The businessman argued that all his investments cannot be sold and all proceeds kept in an escrow account to be used by his former wife.
He maintained that the Court of Appeal had order that the proceeds should be shared in the ratio of 3:1 in his favour.
