An athlete and a former assistant minister who also served as Kenya’s ambassador to Australia are in trouble after guaranteeing a loan.
Sammy Kipketer, a former long-distance runner and Stephen Tarus risk losing multi-million matrimonial properties should NCBA Bank go through with an auction.
The duo guaranteed a loan for Prayosha Ventures, which is owned by Tejaskumar Ratilal Patel.
Mr Patel had a Sh606 million loan with the lender but stopped servicing it back in 2017.
Now, the loan has accrued to Sh526 million which the lender wants paid off by the guarantors.
Mr Kipketer stands to lose his Eldoret Building valued at Sh80 million while Mr Tarus risks losing his Karen home valued at Sh70 million.
Beatrice Jeruto (Kipketer’s wife) and Jane Rotich (Tarus’s wife) are claiming that their spouses did not rope them into the deal that saw them charge their matrimonial properties as security for the loan.
Section 93 of the Registered Land Act states that “Subject to any law to the contrary, if a spouse obtains interest in land during the subsistence of a marriage for the co-ownership and use of both spouses or all spouses, such property shall be deemed to be matrimonial property and shall be dealt with under the Matrimonial Act.”
On the other hand, the Law of Contract Act offers lenders liberty to pursue a guarantor without having to pursue a defaulting principal borrower.
In 2019, when Ms Kipketer sought to stop the auction, Justice Hellen Omondi dismissed her application on grounds that there was no proof that she was married to the athlete.
She did however manage to stop Joyland Auctioneers from selling the office block that was advertised in April.
Her spouse also supported claims that the signature on the charge document was a forgery.
“The only way to determine whether the signatures were correct would be through the hearing of the evidence of the witnesses and the advocate who allegedly handled the transaction,” her lawyer Ham Lagat argued.
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