The management of English Point Marina Hotel has been temporarily granted a sigh of relief after the High Court stopped Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) from seizing the luxury hotel over a Ksh 4.8 billion debt.
Justice Dorah Chepkwony of Commercial and Tax Division Court also restrained the Bank from appointing a receiver-manager, administrator or exercising its power under the said debt pending the hearing of a suit filed by the hotel.
KCB was further restrained from trespassing into, advertising for public auction, or offering for sale the hotel.
The bank took over English Point Marina following the Ksh4.8 billion debt the hotel had accrued and appointed Kamal Anatroy Bhatt as the receiver manager.
The Bank intends to sell part or all of the property with an aim of raising enough funds to settle the amounts owed to KCB.
Pearl Beach Hotels which owns the said hotel however moved to court claiming the appointment of the receiver-manager is not only premature but also misconceived and calculated to defeat the hotel’s right of redemption.
Through lawyer Nick Ndeda, the hotel chain accused the bank of irregularly, unprocedural and illegally appointing a receiver without due notice and with a complete lack of justification under the debenture instruments.
According to Nick Ndeda, the hotel has been actively and continuously engaging KCB bank with the view of resolving an accounting error on the part of the bank resulting in a surplus charge of Ksh893,786,194.
The hotel argues that the error has rendered computation of the loan amortization schedule impossible thus hampering the hotel’s ability to accurately forecast its obligations under the contract.
“The loss to the applicant can be avoided if the reasonable alternatives presented by the applicant are considered,” Ndeda claimed in court documents.
Ndeda further claims that the hotel’s directors Nazir Jinnah and Alnoor Kanji with their respective families permanently reside in Penthouses D1 and D2 on the premises forming the subject matter of the debenture and have now been denied access by the irregularly appointed receiver.
Justice Chepkwony certified the matter urgent and issued an order of injunction holding in abeyance the actions and appointment of Kamal Anatroy Bhatt as a receiver-manager of KCB.
The Judge further issued an order mandating the directors of the hotel unfettered access to Penthouses D1 and D2 in which they permanently reside.
