The High Court has barred KCB Bank from seizing the English Point Marina hotel in Mombasa over an unpaid loan.
The lender last week Tuesday took over the luxurious residential and hotel complex in a bid to recover a loan debt amounting to Sh5.2 billion.
KCB further appointed a receiver-manager, Kamal Anatroy Bhatt, to sell part or all of the property to raise enough funds to settle the amounts owed to KCB.
But Pearl Beach Hotels, which owns English Point Marina, moved to court arguing that the appointment of the receiver-manager is not only “pre mature but also misconceived and calculated to defeat the Hotel’s right of redemption.”
Through advocate Nick Ndeda, Pearl Beach Hotels accused KCB of “irregularly, unprocedural and illegally appointing a receiver without due notice and with complete lack of justification under the debenture instruments.”
The lawyer also told the court that English Point Marina directors Nazir Jinnah and Alnoor Kanji and their respective families permanently reside in Penthouses D1 and D2 on the complex and have now been denied access by the appointed receiver.
At the same time, Pearl Beach Hotels argues that it has been actively and continuously engaging KCB bank with a view to resolving an accounting error on the part of the bank resulting in a surplus charge of Sh.893,786,194 which has rendered computation of the loan amortization schedule impossible.
The matter has been certified as urgent.
Mombasa High Court Judge Dorah Chepkwony issued restraining orders against KCB pending the hearing and determination of a petition filed by English Point Marina.
