Court freezes Rai family bank account
3 min read
High Court freezes a bank account belonging to the wealthy Rai family following an inheritance row pitting brothers
High Court freezes a bank account belonging to the wealthy Rai family following an inheritance row pitting brothers.
A Nairobi High Court has frozen a bank account held by the Rai Family after one of the brothers filed a case claiming he was kicked out as a signatory, reigniting a fierce succession battle.
Justice Alfred Mabeya ordered the account at ABSA Bank to be frozen after Iqbal Rai, the brother of embattled sugar billionaire Jaswant Singh Rai, claimed he was removed as a signatory.
“The Applicant was wrongfully removed from the mandate of the interested party unprocedural and without a resolution. The said removal renders the account susceptible to manipulation and withdrawals without the consent of the Applicant who is still a director/shareholder,” an application filed by Iqbal through lawyer Ekuru Aukot read in part.
The account is registered under Rai Investments Ltd.
Iqbal has now asked the court to reinstate him as a signatory to the multi-billion empire among other prayers.
The younger Rai told the court that his attempts to be reinstated have been ignored.
“All efforts by the Plaintiff to follow up on the matter and to ensure that he is restored as being part of the mandate have been treated with contempt despite the grave risk that obtains in the current circumstances,” court documents state.
Iqbal and Jaswant have not been seeing eye to eye and have been engaged in a long court battle over their late father’s, Tarlochan Singh Rai, multi-billion estate.
Iqbal and his other sibling, Jasbir, are challenging Jaswant’s push to administer their father’s vast estate, with business interests across the East African region.
Tarlochan had listed his sons Jaswant, Iqbal, and Sarbjit as directors of Rai Investments Ltd.
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The Rai family is one of the richest in Kenya, with interests in agriculture, timber, cement, edible oils, real estate, and horticulture.
They own RaiPly, Menengai Oil Industries Ltd., West Kenya Sugar Ltd., and Rai Cement.
The fight over the empire has often spilled into business rivalry as was the case of the fight over collapsed Mumias Sugar Company.
Sarbit Rai, who owns a sugar miller among other businesses in neighbouring Uganda, won the bid to revive the ailing miller but Janswant opposed the move, leading to a protracted legal battle.
The Rai family has been in the limelight recently following the abduction Jaswant Singh by unidentified people in Kilimani in August and released two days later.
President William Ruto had made comments believed to be directed at billionaire Jaswant Singh Rai warning of sugar cartels sabotaging the revival of public enterprises.
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