The High Court has stopped the planned auction of a property at the 14 Riverside Drive complex in Nairobi after finding the process leading to the sale defective and invalid. In a ruling issued on Thursday, October 8, Justice Moses Ado set aside the warrants and auction notices that had paved the way for the property’s disposal. The decision came after a court notice ordered that the auction be held on May 26 to recover about Ksh4.9 billion that had accumulated from a failed office-block purchase.The court also dismissed an objection by the creditor seeking to enforce payment through the auction, which had challenged the court’s jurisdiction.Additionally, allegations made against the court by the creditor were also ordered removed from the record.The long-running commercial dispute dates back to 2010, when the creditor agreed to purchase two office blocks within the Riverside development. About Ksh577 million was paid as an advance before the transaction collapsed, with the creditor later seeking a refund over delays in completing the development. The property owner disputed the claim, arguing that some of the delays were linked to design changes requested by the buyer. Eventually, attempts were made to recover the money through the sale of the property, which were challenged by the property owner. The dispute saw an arbitrator order the property owners to refund the buyer in 2015, a decision the High Court overturned in 2016 before the Court of Appeal reinstated it in 2019, with the Supreme Court allowing enforcement on March 24.Now, the latest ruling has stopped the auction process without resolving the underlying commercial dispute.The decision means the planned auction cannot proceed under the notices that had already been issued. Any future attempt to auction the property will have to start afresh and comply with the court’s directions, with the reserve price also set by the court.
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