Bank sale of TSS property halted

A bank has been restrained from disposing of six parcels of land associated with late Mombasa tycoon Tahir Sheikh Said, popularly known as TSS, as his kin fight to keep auctioneers at bay in an ongoing scramble for his multi-billion shilling empire.

Justice Dora Chepkwony issued an order of status quo temporarily restraining Bank of Africa (BoA) from dealing with the parcels of land.

The deceased tycoon’s children Osman, Amina and Said Ahmed had filed an application arguing that the lender advertised the properties for sale without their knowledge and that of registered owners of the land.

The three, who are suing the bank as executors of the will of the late TSS, argue that they have established that one of the land parcels within Mombasa island has already been auctioned.

“The applicants or registered owners of the property were not served with any advertisement notices as required under the Auctioneers Act and Rules,” they argue in their application.

They also argue that their application is urgent since they do not know when BoA will attempt to sell off the land.

The plaintiffs are also seeking an order declaring an auction sale of April 1 null and void from the beginning.

In their main suit, they are seeking a permanent injunction restraining the bank from disposing or completing conveyance transfer of any sale concluded by public auction or private treaty.

The properties were used to secure loans to Juja Coffee Exporters Ltd, a firm owned byTSS. The move is only the latest twist in legal tussles involving the late tycoon’s firms that has seen several lenders including KCB Group and NIC Bank attempt to retire TSS’ loans, estimated to have amounted to more than Sh3.5 billion as at his death in 2017. His empire was said to have constituted the banking industry’s largest exposure to a single entity.