Four fraud accused out on bail after allegedly altering a structural integrity report on proposed construction of new MultiChoice Kenya building.

by Thinus Ferreira

Four fraud accused who appeared in court on Wednesday in Kenya were released on a 500 000 shillings bond (R70 000) and are standing accused of trying to defraud MultiChoice Kenya through a false structural integrity building report.

Kenya's KBC channel reported on Thursday that Eugene Kariuki Muchemi, Wilson Munyu, Stanley Kibathi and Lavender Lucky have been released on bail after being accused on four counts of fraud in the East African country.

All four are denying the counts of fraud against them and denied creating a false document. 

The four allegedly conspired to defraud MultiChoice Kenya by deliberately altering a structural integrity report on the proposed construction of an office block for MultiChoice Kenya to favour their company and to demand damages.

The case will be heard again on 19 January 2022.

ALSO READ: In a bitter court battle, the sagging beams building case drags on as MultiChoice Kenya wants to get rid of (but can't) the defective Nairobi building from its fired concrete contractor that was supposed to be the pay-TV operator's new Kenya headquarters.

The SABC is busy selling off some of its 'non-core' properties in South Africa and has sold its flat in London.

The struggling South African public broadcaster is in the process of selling off some of its derelict buildings and other properties that the SABC hasn't used for years, including in Cape Town and London in the United Kingdom.

The SABC that just received another bailout of R2.1 billion of an allocated R3.2 billion, has started a process of selling off "non-core" assets to improve its beleaguered balance sheet.

Properties the SABC has already sold and is in the process of selling include a flat in London; Rocklands Villas which is its long-troubled, derelict block of flats in Cape Town behind its bureau in Sea Point, a farm in Tweefontein in Limpopo, flats and houses in Mafikeng in the North West province and various homes in Tshwane townships The Sunday Times reports.

The flat in New Malden in southwest-London has already been sold for £880 000 (R16.7 million).

Many of these properties have been vacant and haven't been used in years, for instance Rocklands Villas that has been derelict for over 2 decades and used to house SABC staffers and news personnel when visiting and working in Cape Town.

The property portfolio of the SABC is worth around R75 million, including its assets in South Africa as well as in London where the flat was used by the broadcaster's foreign correspondents when its SABC News division still bothered to do original full-time reporting from there.

In a bitter court battle, the sagging beams building case drags on as MultiChoice Kenya wants to get rid of (but can't) the defective Nairobi building from its fired concrete contractor that was supposed to be the pay-TV operator's new Kenya headquarters.

MultiChoice Kenya is locked in a bitter court battle as a "sagging beams building" case drags on with a local contractor, Cementers Limited in Nairobi, Kenya, over a defective office block that was built and supposed to become its new Kenya headquarters but that the Naspers-owned pay-TV operator now just wants to get rid of but can't.

The mega-project - a 4-storey, 8 000 square feet building - was supposed to become MultiChoice East Africa's new showpiece building (artist's impression pictured right), incorporating features like water recycling and various smart technology to conserve energy, as well having an underground parking area, and even a restaurant.

But that was before the massive structural building problems with the project emerged, with MultiChoice Kenya now just wanting to get rid of the constructed mess.

In an odd twist, Cementers Limited went to court and sued MultiChoice Kenya, trying to prevent MultiChoice Kenya from selling the defective building of R125.63 million (Sh895 million) that was erected in Oloitoktok Road in Lavington in Kenya's capital before the building dispute is resolved.

Kenya's judge James Makau granted the order preventing "MultiChoice Kenya or its agents from advertising or offering for sale the property".

MultiChoice Kenya has further been ordered to "preserve" the defective building in its current state, pending the outcome of the court case.

Meanwhile MultiChoice Kenya has petition the court to allow it to continue with the planned sale of the defective building where beams started sagging in January 2016, saying it's making a loss of R650 000 (Sh4.6 million) per month having to pay for security, insurance and trying to "maintain" the defective building project.

In August Cementers Limited got a court order allowing it to go into MultiChoice Kenya's head office for the project's structural engineer to find the documents it wants in its court case with MultiChoice Kenya.

Cementers Limited confiscated electronics and documents in 6 August, something that MultiChoice Kenya is challenging in court, saying the "blanket access" of Cementers Limited to its office carries the risk of exposing the confidential information of DStv and GOtv subscribers, like their personal details, including names, addresses, smart card information and addresses.

Eric Odipo, MultiChoice Kenya managing director, says Cementers Limited was dumped in June 2017 and MultiChoice's contract with the contractor terminated after the contractor was given notice.

Cementers Limited blames the structural engineers who worked on the building and is arguing that they should be held liable.

Cementers Limited also claims that a report from Interconsult Limited, commissioned by MultiChoice Kenya and Conapex Consulting Engineers Limited as an independent expert to audit the building after the defects were discovered, had been "doctored" to show that the problems in the building and the sagging beams have been caused by the concrete.