How ownership of Integrity Centre changed hands
Details have come to light of a possible cover-up in the transfer of the ownership of Integrity Centre.
The centre is the headquarters of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and was in the property of the Deposit Protection Fund before it reverted to its original owners.
Mr Kipsang Sambai, a forensic investigator with the commission, said on Monday that in 2013, they wanted to know the terms of the discharge and requested the fund to provide the property’s documents.
They wanted to know the principal debt, interest accrued, outstanding amount, rent received when the property was under receivership, the market value and the amount received.
“Deposit Protection Fund Director Rose Detho became unco-operative and wrote a letter asking the commission to terminate investigations since her agency had secured the share certificate,” Mr Sambai said in court papers.
He added that despite the hitch, investigations established that Trust Finance advanced Revack Ltd Sh217 million in 1994.
Trust Finance was a subsidiary of Trust Bank. The fund took over the management of Trust Bank which ended in receivership and was liquidated.
“Among the debtors of Trust Finance was Revack Ltd and to secure the said debt, a charge of Sh152 million was created over the property through a court order in 1999,” Mr Sambai added.
He said given the period of the debt and the application of interest, the amount as at 2013, when the property was purportedly redeemed, must have been at least Sh1 billion.
On May 2, 2013, a new grant was issued to Revack and on June 4, 2013 the firm transferred the property to Tegus Ltd for Sh400 million.
Mr Sambai’s response was in relation to a case filed against him by Mr Ahmed Adan, a lawyer, who says the anti-corruption commission officer painted him in bad light by linking him to the centre’s ownership woes.
The forensic investigator, however, said Revack and Tegus directors were closely associated with Mr Adan, and that some were his relatives.
“Efforts to record statements from the directors were met with threats from Mr Adan,” Mr Sambai said.
He said given the association of the two firms to Mr Adan, it was doubtful that the transfer was genuine.
The case will be mentioned on September 17.
SOURCE: Daily Nation