Jacaranda Hotel, owned by the family of the late politician Njenga Karume has been put on auction over unpaid Ksh257.6 million loan owed to Guaranty Trust Bank.
The loan is said to have been advanced to the late defence who died seven years ago before he could clear it, with family members and board of trustees unable to clear it.
“We have been advised by our client, Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd, that you are still in arrears amounting to Ksh257,645,708.53 as at 5th July 2019. We have set the auction date as 21st July 2019 at our auction mart new Kireita Building, Kirinyaga Road, at 11.00 am. If you wish to stop the auction, you will have to pay all the debt due together with the interest and costs incidental thereto,” read a notice to the hotel management.
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The hotel last year also faced auction following accumulated VAT and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) arrears amounting to Ksh153 million owed to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
KRA had already seized equipment belonging to the hotel but the issue was brought to rest after an agreement was reached to have the hotel pay the arrears in Ksh50 million monthly installments.
One of the trustees, Mr Kung’u Gatabaki, said that the matter was being addressed through the sale of other property to settle the loan.
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“We are looking for money to settle them. This is the jewel of the Karume empire and is not to be sold just like that. As trustees, we oversight the board to run the business and I believe they will settle it once we are able to sell the land, which is where we will get funds to settle our arrears with KRA as well,” said Gatabaki in an interview.
Other properties belonging to the Karume family that were advertised for sale (last year) include Village Inn, 11 parcels of land (111.24 acres) in Kiambu, over a Ksh2.5 billion debt.
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