A group of influential individuals are now involved in the forced acquisition of real estate developer ACORN group. The group which has failed to convince ACORN Group’s CEO Edward Kiraithe to sell is now trying to use all underhand deals to wrestle the control of the firm.
Former head of public service Francis Muthaura, Nairobi shadow governor and top investment banker Jimna Mbaru, businessman Benson Wairegi are pursuing a bloody forced acquisition of multi billion property company ACORN. The forced acquisition is nolonger taking the usual Mergers and Acquisition route but a dark, dirty and bloody angle with Judiciary and CID lined up for manipulation.
According to the scheme by Britam Lords, they want to acquire 80-100 % of ACORN fraudulently and forcefully without due regard to the laid down laws governing such transactions. The meeting in which the forced acquisition was discussed was Chaired by Amb Francis Muthaura and Benson Wairegi a member of the strategy Committee of the Britam Investment group, met stiff resistance from Edward Kiraithe CEO of ACORN who flatly turned down the proposal to acquire 80-100 % of ACORN by Britam.
Property firm ACORN Group has petitioned Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga to disqualify judge David Onyancha from hearing a multi-billion shilling court case pitting it against Britam on basis of bias that will emanate from conflict of interest since Justice David Onyancha is a client/partner of BRITAM lords lawyer Fred Ngatia.
BRITAM has accused the former British-American Asset Managers (BAAM) executives – who quit the investment firm two months ago – of fraudulently transferring the money to bank accounts held by ACORN Group.
The matter has been compounded by stock broker Jimnah Mbaru and Equity CEO James Mwangi who boycotted the BRITAM committee meeting that was chaired by Amb Muthaura the Chairman of the BRITAM Board. During the stormy meeting ACORN boss Wairegi argued that the BRITAM shares were grossly over priced at Nairobi Security Exchange meaning the exchange price between BRITAM and ACORN shares would not be favourable.
The underlying issue between Britam and ACORN is that Britam wants to forceful acquire 80-100% shares in Acorn a plan that Edward kirathe the CEO has flatted turned down .The forces behind this scheme are no other than Benson Wairegi ,Ambassador Muthaura (Chair of the Board), Peter Munga, James Mwangi of Equity Bank and Jimma Mbaru .
Once the Old guards most of whom are above 70ysr realised that the new guards will not budge, they have orchestrated a plan to arm twist ACORN by deliberately stopping funding on existing transactions so that ACORN could fail to honour its obligations to clients.
This led to a group of Britam Asset management team quitting in a huff as they did not want to be part of this fraud. This lead to the birth of Cyntonn.
The four former Britam executives who formed Cyntonn Investments managed to clinch a fresh deal with ACORN. On 8th October 2014, ACORN appointed Cytonn Investments the lead transaction advisors for a Sh40 billion property deal that was to be previously funded by Britam. Britam immediately moved to court on October 28 claiming that the 4 former Britam executives fraudulently transfered Sh3.9 billion to bank accounts held by ACORN Group.
The former executives are Edwin Dande (CEO), Elizabeth Nkukuu (Portfolio Manager), Shiv Arora (Investment Analyst) and Patricia Wanjama (Head of Legal). Now Britam is using the police and links to State House to arrest the four former executives of Britam. The police raided the offices of Cyntonn Investments arresting Arora, Nkukuu, and Wanjama on Friday 3pm. This immediately drew the protest from ACORN group which led to police releasing the 3 managers on Saturday at 4AM (Weird HOURS).
It’s interesting to note that Britam chose Fred Ngatia to represent them in this law suit. Ngatia has been representing these old guards in various litigations. Ngatia however knows very well that the case is not water tight. He has gone ahead and filed the case in the civil division of the high court yet the lawsuits of this kind being commercial in nature are filed in the commercial division of the high court.
But the underlying reason is that Ngatia chose to appear before Hon Justice Onyancha who is his current client on an ongoing case filed against the Judicial Service commission.
The relationship between Judge Onyancha and Lawyer Fred Ngatia is not only against the public Offices Ethics Act but also a case of judicial misconduct.
To further frustrate the Cynton and Acorn relationship, Hon Muthaura, Jimma Mbaru, James Mwangi have used their influence in government to have the Cyntonn directors detained to assert their authority. This is the old guard way of impending reforms at the judiciary.
The largest single shareholders of Britam are; Jimnah Mbaru 11.59% Benson Warigi 5.30% Peter Munga 3.97.
The High Court through Judge Onyancha has now barred ACORN Group and Cytonn Investments from transferring the disputed funds held in a Chase Bank account. The two firms have also been barred from developing any of the planned 10 real estate projects until November 12.
PIC