As Mr Mutuse alleged to his colleagues that Mr Gachagua had abused office to amass wealth and disinherit relatives, a little-known firm was making a big move.
Officials of Ultra Eureka Ltd, owned by Jackson Kiplimo Chebett, were crunching numbers and signing mountains of paperwork to ensure payment of Sh45 million (10 per cent deposit of sale price) to auctioneers who were selling a 6.8-acre land in Karen owned by distressed Dari Ltd.
Dari Ltd, owned by former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju, had developed a luxury residential complex on the Karen land, but was distressed on account of a defaulted Sh1.2 billion loan from the East African Development Bank (EADB).
The cause of that default was at the centre of protracted legal battles between Mr Tuju and EADB in Nairobi and London, with most outcomes ending in the lender’s favour, including the auction of the property.
As Kenyans watched Mr Mutuse level the abuse of office, corruption and gross misconduct allegations against Mr Gachagua, Ultra Eureka Ltd was completing payment of the 10 per cent deposit to acquire the land.
This means that Ultra Eureka Ltd acquired the land for Sh450 million, something Mr Chebett has confirmed to the High Court.
By December 2024, Mr Chebett’s firm had completed paying the Sh405 million balance and was registered as the property’s owner two months later.
Stabex International Group Chairman Jackson Kiplimo Chebett.
Photo credit: Pool
Just as often occurs in auctions, Mr Chebett and his Ultra Eureka Ltd acquired the land for a song, considering its market value.
In court, Mr Tuju had alleged that the property’s value had appreciated to Sh3.5 billion at the time of the auction.
The Nation has established that Mr Chebett is a co-owner of Stabex International Ltd, a big player in the petroleum exports sector.
In the final quarter of 2025, Stabex controlled 4.9 per cent of the industry market share, making it the fourth largest firm in the sector only behind Vivo Energy (Shell) at 15.09 per cent, Rubis Energy at 11.26 per cent, and Total Energies at 10.79 per cent.
In the first quarter of 2025, Stabex ranked sixth in market share behind Vivo, Rubis, TotalEnergies, Hass Petroleum and Galana Energies.
Stabex, Hass Petroleum and Galana Energies have in the past year eaten the lunch of the big three players – Vivo, Rubis and TotalEnergies. This resulted in a rare occurrence where the big three’s combined market share dropped to below 50 per cent.
Stabex also exports petroleum products downstream, to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On August 17, 2023, Mr Chebett held a meeting with Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, in which the latter promised to help Stabex easily navigate through red tape so as to ease doing business in the landlocked country.
Business Registration Service records indicate that Mr Chebett is the majority owner of Stabex International Ltd, holding 950,000 shares. Abraham Kipkoech Korir owns the other 50,000 shares.
Previously, Daniel Kiprop Cherutich owned 25,000 shares in the company, but transferred them to Mr Chebett.
Mr Chebett is also the Board chairperson at Stabex International. Valerie Cheptoo Limo is listed as an alternate director to Mr Chebet.
Other Board members are former Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Director Joseph Kiptoo Chebungei, Catherine Asemeit Omasete and Ugandan national Anthony Kuka Cherotich.
Mr Chebett is also the sole owner of Ultra Eureka Ltd, which has now purchased Mr Tuju’s Karen land through auction.
Ultra Eureka Ltd was incorporated on August 29, 2018. It is wholly owned by Ultra Eureka Farm Ltd, which holds all 1,000 shares. Mr Chebett, in turn, owns all 2,010,000 shares in Ultra Eureka Farm Ltd.
Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group
Ultra Eureka Farm Ltd was incorporated on February 8, 2002.
Ultra Eureka Ltd is in agronomy, but also sells imported farming inputs and equipment, some of which is exported to Uganda.
Ultra Eureka Farm Ltd produces fruit seedlings on farms in Chemurgui along the Iten-Kabarnet road and Chepkanga, both in Uasin Gishu County.
On Wednesday, Mr Chebett defended his firm’s purchase of Mr Tuju’s land, insisting it was acquired lawfully through a public auction conducted by EADB in October 2024.
Ultra Eureka Limited has also disclosed that after acquiring the land in February 2025, the property’s title was charged at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) the following month for a $2.5 million (Sh324 million) loan facility.
The company told the High Court that it legally bought the prime Nairobi property at Sh450 million after the EADB exercised its statutory power of sale over the land previously owned by companies associated with Mr Tuju.
In a replying affidavit, Mr Chebett, the firm’s director, says the transaction followed a competitive public auction, and the buyer fully paid the agreed purchase price.
He says his company is the new landlord of the business premises, having taken over the same last week and has already written to the tenants informing them of the changes.
“The tenth defendant (Ultra Eureka Limited) participated in the public auction, and its bid of Sh450 million was accepted by the second defendant (the bank),” Mr Chebett states in court papers in response to Mr Tuju’s application seeking to stop the transfer of the Karen property and to nullify the auction sale.
Mr Chebet says that after paying the amount, EADB discharged the title document, and his company was subsequently registered as the proprietor of the leasehold interest in the property in February 2025. This followed the auction in October 2024.
However, the High Court has halted any transfer or assignment of the title pending the determination of the application by Mr Tuju. Hearing is scheduled for April 7, 2026.
Records attached to the affidavit show the land measures 6.8 acres and is held under a 99-year lease from September 1, 2010, when Mr Tuju acquired it alongside the African Wildlife Foundation as tenants in common. Tuju was later registered as the sole owner in December 2014.
The land has three business properties, including Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary, Tamarind Karen, and Dari Business Park.
These assets had been used by Mr Tuju as collateral for a $9.3 million loan facility advanced to Tuju’s Dari Limited in April 2015 by EADB.
Court documents show the land had been registered in the name of Mr Tuju and was among assets charged to the EADB to secure a multi-million dollar loan advanced to Dari Limited.
The ongoing legal dispute stems from a long-running debt recovery battle between Mr Tuju’s Dari Ltd and the regional lender over the $9.3 million (Sh1.2 billion).
According to the buyer, the property was advertised in newspapers before being sold by Garam Investments Auctioneers on October 1, 2024, after the borrower defaulted on the loan.
Mr Chebett says Ultra Eureka Limited paid the Sh450 million purchase price in full and submitted the transfer documents to the Chief Land Registrar for registration.
“The 10th defendant paid the purchase price in full and the second defendant issued it with the transfer documents to enable registration,” he says in the affidavit.
The company told the court that the land has since been transferred and registered in its name, making it the lawful owner of the leasehold interest.
Mr Chebett says the former owner and associated companies no longer hold any legal interest in the property following the auction and registration.
Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju peeps into his property after heavily armed security officers sealed off the Dari Business Park premises in Karen along Ngong Road in Nairobi on March 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
“The plaintiffs’ rights to the subject property have since been extinguished as the second plaintiff is no longer the registered owner,” he says.
He also alleges that attempts by the former occupants to reclaim the land escalated into a confrontation when a group stormed the premises after the court lifted earlier injunction orders.
According to the affidavit, more than 50 men allegedly forced their way into the property and assaulted security guards who had been deployed to protect the premises.
“The said men roughed and beat up the security guards and in the process seriously injured a number of the guards,” Mr Chebett claims.
Police were later called to restore order and directed the parties to present ownership documents for verification, the buyer says.
The company further tells the court it had written to tenants occupying the premises informing them that ownership had changed and rent should be paid to the new landlord.
The High Court recently struck out Mr Tuju’s suit and discharged interim orders that had temporarily restrained the sale, clearing the way for the buyer to assert ownership of the land.
However, Mr Tuju has since escalated the dispute to the Court of Appeal, and the case is pending hearing.
Tuju’s efforts to stop the auction were further complicated after a dramatic turn at the Supreme Court, where the entire five-judge bench hearing his appeal stepped aside following allegations of bias raised by Tuju and his companies.
Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju speaks on a phone call as heavily armed security officers seal off the Dari Business Park property in Karen along Ngong Road in Nairobi during an early-morning operation on March 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
Together with his co-applicants Tuju lodged a complaint before the Judicial Service Commission on April 30, 2024, accusing the apex bench—Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and Justices Mohammed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u and William Ouko—of handling their case in a manner that suggested a predetermined outcome.
In a ruling delivered on October 11, 2024, the judges said the accusations struck at the core of their oath of office and made it impossible for them to continue hearing the appeal, prompting each of them to recuse themselves from the case.
The Supreme Court consequently dismissed Tuju’s application to suspend the proceedings pending the JSC complaint and ruled that the Court of Appeal judgment of April 20, 2023, would remain in force until overturned by a properly constituted bench.
“That we are being accused of bias and working towards an undisclosed predetermined outcome, we are strongly persuaded that our further participation in these proceedings would not serve the ends of justice, at least in the eyes and perception of the appellants/applicants,” said the bench.
With the appellate decision still standing and no Supreme Court bench in place to hear the challenge, the legal stalemate exposed Tuju’s charged properties to enforcement actions that later culminated in the October 1, 2024, auction of the property to Mr Chebet.
