Akasha wife urges court to enjoin her in property case
The family of slain drug baron Ibrahim Akasha is now entangled in court battles over properties worth billions of shillings confiscated by the Assets Recovery Unit and American authorities.
In the latest development, the first wife of Ibrahim Akasha — Hayat — has moved to the Mombasa High Court seeking to be enjoined in a suit filed by her co-wife, Fatuma, and a wife of Baktash Akasha, Najma.
The application is seeking for orders to compel government agencies to release high-end vehicles, title deeds to palatial homes in Nyali, and other properties estimated to be worth billions of shillings in the United States, Pakistan and Iran. The Akashas also want the court to order the agencies to return 11 high value gold chains, two Ceska pistols loaded with 16 rounds of ammunition, 10 separate rounds of ammunition, over 10 mobile phones and log books of high-end vehicles — including a Mercedes Benz and a Land Cruiser.
In their application, Fatma and Najma had sought orders to have the items handed over to them following the extradition and sentencing of the Akasha brothers — Baktash and Ibrahim — in the US three years ago.
Yesterday, Hayat in her court application sought to be enjoined as an interested party, arguing that her co-wife might short-change her in case the properties were handed to her in the awaited judgment. Through lawyer John Khaminwa, Hayat, in her affidavit before court, claims that the properties being sought by her co-wife and Baktash’s wife are properties of the late Akasha which she is entitled to.
“The properties being held by State agencies like land and houses belonged to the late Akasha and l suspect fraud by the petitioners in this matter. I’m seeking to be enjoined in the suit since l have a right to a share of the properties listed in court documents,” she says.
She argues that her late husband, Ibrahim, had never been convicted of any crime under the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances control Act in Kenya, USA or anywhere in the world.
“The persons listed as the owners of the properties, who have since been sentenced in the US, are not the original owners of the family property, which were lawfully and legally obtained by the late Akasha several years before the narcotics and drugs law was passed,” she says.
On her part, Fatma through lawyer Kiogora Mugambi, informed Justice Sewe that the matter had been heard by then Mombasa High Court judge Erick Ogola and was pending judgment.
She urged the judge to reject the new application, adding that it was being filed out of malice.
Justice Olga Sewe ordered the matter to be mentioned on November 23.
