This archive report was first published on 6 July 2020.
On July 6, 2020, a court ruling dealt a blow to Retired African Inland Church Bishop Silas Misoi Yego's bid to save his prime city property from auction.
Bishop Yego, through his trading company Siro Investments, had borrowed Sh140 million from Trans National Bank in 2014 to construct 50 apartment units on the property.
However, he failed to service the loan, prompting the lender to instruct Purple Royal Auctioneers to recover the loan through a public sale in April 2020.
Bishop Yego moved to court to challenge the auction, claiming the bank had undervalued the property and that the outstanding balance was Sh86 million, not the Sh143 million quoted by the lender.
He also complained that the bank failed to issue him the required notification of sale.
However, Justice David Majanja ruled that since Bishop Yego admitted the indebtedness, he cannot suffer a loss that cannot be compensated by damages.
The judge added that the cleric understood that the bank was entitled to seize and auction the property upon default.
"According to the correspondence between the parties, the plaintiff has been in default since 2019. He has not met his promise to settle the debt despite several offers by the bank to accept settlement," said Justice Majanja when dismissing the application to restrain the bank from auctioning the property.
