Two Kenyan firms, which have been linked to the sale of land in Kiambu County, have found themselves in deep controversy after a flagship property they are involved in was accused of engaging in fraudulent land dealings.
Based on court filings, Heri Homes and Finsco Africa have been accused of selling a prime parcel of land despite an ongoing feud involving the heirs to a coffee farming empire.
The 200-acre parcel, which is marketed as Legacy Ridges, is located on the Ruiru-Kamiti Road and, based on advertisements, properties in the project fetch from Sh8.4 million.
The family property, named Wamikey Estate Limited, is allegedly being sold off by Virginia Waithera, with the involvement of Finsco Africa and Heri Homes, minus the consent of other family members, according to the papers filed in court.
Waithera is the second wife of the late prominent Kiambu tycoon David Ndua Thuo.
Thuo’s children from his first marriage to Alice Njeri had moved to court to bar Waithera from managing Wamikey “without transparency to the rest of the family to the extent that she has sold and/or transferred shares and/or tampered with the registration of the property.”
“Waithera has entered into an illegal joint venture agreement with developers known as Heri Homes, Finsco Africa, who are developing the property belonging to the estate and have named the development Legacy Ridges,” said Godfrey Alfred Hinga, who is Thuo’s son.
Hinga told the court that, after the real estate project was unveiled on February 22, 2022, he wrote to Waithera, Heri Homes and Finsco Africa, but his letter attracted no response.
In his court filings, he said the land allegedly misappropriated to Legacy Ridges was valued at over Sh1 billion and that the family risked losing the Wamikey Estate Limited parcel.
“Virginia Waithera does not have any higher right than the other beneficiaries of the estate,” Hinga argued.
The case filed in court by the feuding family members risks bringing the multi-billion-shilling Legacy Ridges development project to a screeching halt.
Similarly, Finsco Africa and Heri Homes are also embroiled in another land tussle in court, with their Riverline Ridges project also stalling due to a fraud case filed in court.
The fraud case puts at loggerheads heirs of Bernard Njinu Kiarie, a powerful police chief from the era of the late former president Daniel arap Moi, putting the land title at stake.
