Jeremiah Maina and Lucy Kabuu.
The matrimonial property tussle between Kenyan marathon star Lucy Wangui Kabuu and her former husband Jeremiah Maina has taken a new twist after accusations of fraud emerged.
Ms Kabuu, who is claiming 100 percent ownership of the property, is now accusing her former husband of fraudulent sale of some of the assets without her consent.
In her new application, the athlete wants the court to recall Mr Maina, who had already testified in the case, to be cross-examined over some of the documents used during transactions, which he had produced before the court as exhibits.
Mr Maina, who filed the case in 2014 after their marriage broke down wants the court to award him half of the property valued at Sh70 million, claiming it is matrimonial.
In his earlier testimony, Mr Maina claims to have contributed to the acquisition and development of the property when he lived with Ms Kabuu.
He said he quit his career in the police service to focus on coaching Ms Kabuu, look after the family, and make investment decisions for the family.
Ms Kabuu, however, has refuted these claims and has maintained that she solely acquired the property using money she won in various athletic competitions.
The 10,000 metres gold medallist has also accused Mr Maina of stealing from her by illegally registering some property in his own name and disposing of others without her knowledge. She also denied being part of the transactions.
She has filed an application dated February 6, challenging some of the documents signed during the sale of some of the property, claiming they were forged.
The properties in question include motor vehicles and land.
According to Ms Kabuu, the car and land sale agreements produced in court, show serious discrepancies that do not substantiate Mr Maina’s claims.
For instance, a motor vehicle sale agreement dated February 20, 2012 shows that he sold the vehicle to Mr Gedion Ng’ang’a yet the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) records show neither of the two owned the car.
An agreement dated August 20, 2013 shows that Mr Maina sold a car to Mr James Ndichu, yet NTSA records show that he has never owned the vehicle.
Regarding the land sale agreement, the green cards, according to Ms Kabuu, show that the transactions happened long before the agreements were signed.
“Mr Maina should be in a position to explain to this court these glaring discrepancies given that these are his own documents that he filed in court,” she said in her affidavit.
In his response dated February 17, Mr Maina urged the court to dismiss the application, which he termed as baseless and a ploy by Ms Kabuu to delay the case that has been in court for over 11 years.
According to Mr Maina, one of the cars had a foreign registration number and took time for them to acquire a Kenyan number plate. At the same time, no evidence has been produced before court to show that he never owned the vehicles.
Mr Maina claimed to have evidence that the money he received from the sale of the vehicles was credited into his account, which he produced in court.
Another vehicle which he sold to Mr James Kamau was burned during clashes in Narok before the transfer was effected.
“It is a very common occurrence that people in Kenya can be driving vehicles with the previous owner still being registered in the NTSA records. Clearly, the advocate of the defendant isn’t aware of the same,” said Mr Maina.
He argued that it is common for parcels of land in Kenya to exchange hands before being registered in the name of the current owner.
Mr Maina said that some of the properties were registered in the name of his first wife and it is upon her consent that they sold the property and the proceeds went towards development of a property owned by Ms Kabuu in Umoja.
“The application herein is a waste of the court's time and should be struck out with the costs to the applicant,” he said.
In his testimony before Justice Samuel Mohochi, Mr Maina said he owned property before he married Ms Kabuu in 2009.
He claimed to have had an illustrious career as a police officer, before he resigned to support her athletics career. He was also a successful businessman earning good income from farming, he added.
The court will rule on the application on April 12.
