Reprieve for Billionaire Rai and Moi families in Ksh1 billion land appeal case
3 min read
Supreme Court dismisses an application barring billionaire Jaswant Rai and Moi families in appealing Ksh1 billion land case
Supreme Court dismisses an application barring billionaire Jaswant Rai and Moi families in appealing Ksh1 billion land case.
Supreme Court has dismissed an application by an Eldoret-based family seeking to reverse an earlier decision which allowed the families of billionaire Jaswant Rai and former President Daniel Moi to appeal the order, prompting them to pay Ksh1 billion as compensation to the family.
Susan Chelugui and her son David Chelugui submitted an application in which they claimed that the families of Moi and Rai had illegally taken possession of their 53-acre plot of land in Eldoret and that as a result, they should be made to pay the Ksh1 billion compensation awarded by the Environment and Land Court in 2019.
However, the Moi and Rai families were permitted to challenge the compensation after the Supreme Court’s seven-judge panel rejected the application.
“All other issues raised by the applicant are in the circumstances completely misguided and do not require our attention at all. Consequently, and without saying more, we deem the application before us frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of the process of court,” the ruling read in part.
Susan Chelugui and her son had sued Moi and billionaire Jaswant Rai for allegedly taking their 53-acre land in Eldoret in 1983.
She claimed that the Moi family had stolen their land and sold it to Jaswant Rai’s company, Rai Plywood, in 1983.
The dispute was taken to the Environment and Land Court, which rendered a decision in favor of the Chelugui family and ordered Moi and Rai to pay Ksh1 billion in accumulated damages.
Senior lawyer Zehrabanu Janmohamed later filed an appeal on behalf of the Moi family, seeking to overturn the verdict.
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In July 2022, the Court of Appeal, however, upheld the ruling, saying that the acquisition of the land by the Moi family was arbitrary deprivation of property.
In order to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the land belonged to the Chelugui family, the Court of Appeal ordered them to provide additional evidence to prove ownership of the disputed land.
In its ruling, the Appellate court also allowed Moi and Rai to appeal the Ksh1 billion amount as compensation.
“This court finds that Susan and Chelugui’s actions were not in any way contemptuous. It is my considered view that the reasons afforded are valid. It is fair and reasonable to adduce further evidence be head and determined,” read part of the judgment.
In June 2023, Susan filed written submissions on her claims to the property in order to prove that the decisions by the High Court and Court of Appeal to grant the Ksh1 billion compensation were correct.
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