Court rejects Tuju's bid to reopen verdict in loan row
Courts
By
Kamau Muthoni
| Nov 08, 2025
The Commercial Court in Nairobi has declined to re-open the United Kingdom judgment at the heart of Sh1.9 billion loan case pitting former Rarieda MP Raphael Tuju against East African Development Bank (EADB).
Justice Wayua Mong’are said that the issue on whether the judgment which paved way for EADB to pursue Tuju in Kenya had already been resolved.
Tuju moved back to court citing new information that would have settled the long running dispute.
He argued that EADB’s senior manager David Washington Barnabas Ochieng Odongo had admitted that the lender disbursed only Sh240 million, which was allegedly less the amount that had been originally agreed upon.
At the same time, he said that Odongo had recanted key parts of his earlier statement against his company, Dari Limited and revealed that the regional bank did not disburse the second loan for completion of the project, which would have enabled him repay the loan.
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Nevertheless, Justice Wayua said that the issue of the judgment had been resolved by her sister judge, moved to the Court of Appeal and settled. She said that Odongo’s new evidence did not pass the test for the court to re-open the issue.
“In conclusion and in summary, I find that the judgment that has application for review is an attempt to refight the battles that they have conclusively lost. It is statutorily misplaced, barred by res judicata, res sub judice and founded on evidence that is neither new nor capable of altering the outcome of this court’s ruling,” ruled Justice Mongare.
In the case, the former minister argues that the lender reneged on adding Sh294 million to develop 30 three-bedroom senior resident units at Tree Lane and another 85 maisonettes on a nearby seven-acre land on Mwitu Road to enable Dari Limited (Tuju’s company) to repay the Sh1.9 billion loan.
Odongo said he was unfamiliar with why the bank did not release the money. According to him, the amount was not in a separate proposal.
“The money was not sent. I cannot explain why it was not disbursed since I was not in senior management. Conditions were to be met to release the money, but I did not know what happened,” testified Odongo.
The court summoned Odongo after Tuju claimed that he gave contradicting statements on what transpired in the Sh1.9 billion loan dispute.
Tuju, a former Jubilee Party Secretary General, stated that in December last year, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) summoned him and his children to record a statement about the loan battle.