Man appeals court ruling to share proceeds

Businessman Suresh Kantaria is protesting against a court decision that directed him and his divorced wife Mradula to settle the terms for sale of three properties and share the proceeds.

The Court of Appeal in 2015 ruled that Kantaria pays his wife Sh350,000 per month in upkeep after setting aside a High Court award of Sh100 million which was to be paid to the former wife.

The Court of Appeal also directed the sale of matrimonial properties whose proceeds would be shared in the ratio of 3:1 in favour of Kantaria.

It is these properties in Nairobi South C and Gigiri that have provided the current battle ground with Kantaria protesting his former wife’s proposal to auction the property.

Kantaria owns two houses and a plot in South C and another parcel of land in Gigiri.

His former wife wants the properties auctioned and the proceeds held in an escrow account of her lawyers, a proposal that Kantaria has vehemently opposed.

The businessman has instead proposed that the properties be valuated to fetch the best prices at current market rates.

“Thereafter, each co-owner will be at liberty to look for buyers and the properties shall be sold to those who offer the best prices,” Suresh says in his proposal that form part of the documents in court.

He argues that such a sale process will be faster and will quickly end all the pending litigations touching on the properties.

The Court of Appeal in its judgment had directed that the proceeds be shared with the woman getting 25 per cent.

But Mradula is now seeking more. She wants the proceeds held in an escrow account from where she will be getting Sh350,000 every month being cash for her upkeep.

“I do hereby state that the monies owed to me pursuant to the said judgment of the Court of Appeal including my future maintenance until my demise since I do not intend on remarrying be paid from the sale proceeds of the said properties,” Mradula says in her affidavit.