Paramount Bank has received a letter from Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in response to allegations of illegal acquisition of a prime parcel of land in Parklands valued of over Sh 400M.
In a letter dated October 22, 2020, CBKs Daniel Muguima on behalf of the Director, Bank Supervision said it has received a complaint against Paramount Bank from Zaverchand Ramji Shah.
The letter sent to Osundwa and Company advocates said the complaint is about fraudulent dealings over L.R NO. 209/6/13, original NO. 209/6/4/1 by Paramount Bank.
“This is to acknowledge that the Central Bank received your complaint and wrote to Paramount Bank Limited to appraise us on the matter. We shall revert comprehensively once we obtain a response from the Bank,” Muguima said.
Zaverchand complained to the Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge, Kenya Bankers Association, the Consumer Federation of Kenya, and the Law Society of Kenya.
In all the letters, he said Paramount Bank illegally disposed him of his land.
The land in question is LR No. 209/6/13, IR No. 30866/9, and size 0.2617 of a hectare situated within Parklands, Nairobi County.
The matter has been in court.
Later, a court ruled that he should deposit shs 25 million with the bank to secure his land which he had used as collateral.
Zaverchand said he deposited the cash with Paramount Bank, but Paramount ignored him and purportedly engaged an auctioneer to auction the land.
He said in the letter that Garam Auctioneers denied ever auctioning the land.
However, in a strange twist, in an affidavit sworn by one of the Banks directors Ayaz Merali on 24th July 2020, he admitted that Zaverchand deposited shs 25 million to the Bank as loan payment.
The Bank transferred the land to KURWA limited.
KURWA limited is associated with former Limuru MP Kuria Kanyingi.
He said Kanyingi’s two wives Jerioth Wangui and Susan Wangu denied being involved in the land saga.
A search at the registrar of Companies on 29th October 2013 indicated that the registered directors of KURWA limited were Simon Kuria Kanyingi, and Jerioth Wangui Kanyingi.
On 22nd Apri2008, Zaverchands land was transferred to KURWA limited and to Karim Kanani.
No cash was exchanged.
NLC has also said the transfer was illegal.
The transfer documents were signed by advocate Mercy Kamau who is also a director at Paramount Bank.
Zaverchand wants the Central Bank to act against the directors of the Bank who are Anwarali Merali, Ayaz Merali, Noorez Padamshi, Mohammed Mujtaba and Mercy Kamau for fraudulently obtaining his land.
He pleaded with the Bank and the other agencies to help him get back his land.