State To Seize SK Macharia’s Assets Over 34-Year Debt

Dr SK Macharia who is the owner of Royal Media Services is a man on the losing end after the court ordered the seize of his properties over long standing debt.
This is after SK Macharia lost a court appeal seeking to stop a judgment that declared him bankrupt over 34-year.debt.
Mr Macharia and his wife Purity Gathoni had been declared bankrupt over aKsh500,000 debt, which has since ballooned to Ksh293.4 million.
The Attorney-General’s office on Friday issued a bankruptcy receiving order, allowing the State to take over and supervise Macharia’s business with the aim of settling all his debts.
“The Official Receiver will prepare a statement of affairs detailing all his assets and liabilities with a view of setting them. The notice has been issued for the benefit of all creditors and captures all his debts, all bank loans, suppliers and any other creditors,” said a source quoted by Business Daily.
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The decision by the courts now means that the state will take over and supervise Macharia’s business with the aim of settling all his debts.
The battle between Macharia and businessman Livingston Waithaka, the managing director of Ocean Freight Transporters Company Limited, has been on since 2001. In 2001, the court ordered Mr Macharia to pay Waithaka the Ksh500,000 debt with an interest rate of 19 percent per annum. The money was given in a land deal that fell through.
Mr Waithaka paid Kh500,000 as a deposit to Mr Macharia in the 1980s for a plot in Nairobi’s Industrial Area which was then valued at Ksh2 million. According to Macharia’s argument in court, Waithaka never paid the remaining balance of Ksh1.5 million.
The order, placed in Friday’s Kenya Gazette notice will see the state now take over  his assets should he fail to come up with amicable way to settle the debt, among businesses owned by SK Macharia including RMS which houses Citizen TV and other TV and radio stations.
Already, Mark Gakuru, the Official Receiver based at the State Law Office, has been tapped to supervise the businessman’s vast estate.
Mr Gakuru’s brief includes reviewing the financial statements to establish the liabilities and assets to enable him to start settling the debts owed by the businessman.
Mr Macharia is also expected to provide Mr Gakuru with a statement of his wealth that includes his assets, debts and liabilities as well as securities held by people he owes money.
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