The High Court in Eldoret has given orders to Platinum Credit Ltd to release and further be restrained from taking motor vehicle registration number KCM 817M Toyota Hiace as long as Margaret Sigira continues paying the outstanding loan amount.
In a ruling by Judge R. Nyakundi dated 17th July 2023, the judge ruled as follows “To sum up the cluster of ground of appeals in a nutshell the respondent appears to be a drowning business lady to a financial ruin arising out of the loan agreements entered with the appellant. The forceful tide if not stopped may sweep a way to bankruptcy due to the outstanding amount claimed by the appellant”.
According to Platinum Credit, Sigira duly executed the loan agreement thus binding herself to the terms and conditions thereof; whereupon the suit motor vehicle was offered as security for the loan amount of Ksh. 1,157,454 payable within (30) days.
She told the Court that she bought the suit motor vehicle from Japan at USD 13,800. She further told the Court that she paid Ksh. 18,584.00 on 15/8/2017 to the Appellant vide Mpesa and another Ksh. 3,915.00 also vide Mpesa. She also told the Court that on 19/7/2017, she paid Ksh. 100,000 to the Appellant through its bank account held at Co-operative bank and also a further Ksh. 3,909.00 through the bank. She told the Court that on 27/7/2017 she made Ksh. 3,915 cash payment to the Appellant and further that on 14/2/2019, she made a cheque payment of Ksh. 800,000 to the Defendant.
The Respondent further testified that on 4/6/2017 she paid Ksh. 42,000 to the welders to fix seats on the suit motor vehicle and also paid Ksh. 150,000 to Blue Line transport Sacco so that she may become a member of the said Sacco in order to have her vehicle accepted. She stated that on 2/6/2017 she paid Ksh. 14,000 for safety belts and on 30/1/2019 she paid Ksh. 20,000 to spray paint the vehicle and a further Ksh. 8,000 to fix a car tracker. She also told the Court that on 2/5/2017 she paid Ksh. 20,000 to Trans Trading Limited in Japan.
She told the Court that she is in Court because even after paying the Appellant, she has not been given her vehicle. She stated that when she bought the vehicle it was said to have a capacity of (2) passengers and that she intended it to carry (11) passengers. She further stated that she was unable to change the vehicle because the Appellant had the vehicle’s log book and other documents prompting her to write a demand letter to the Appellant but the Appellant declined to give her the said documents.
She told the Court that she expected to get a daily income of Ksh. 10,000 from the Blue Sacco and prayed that judgment be entered against the Appealing as prayed. She denied being in breach of the agreement between herself and the Appellant and further stated that the signatures on some of the agreements are not hers but rather forged.
On cross-examination, she told the Court that she bought the suit motor vehicle in February 2017 and was funded by her husband Stephen Sang. She reiterated that she did not use the loan that she had obtained from the Appellant to buy the suit motor vehicle but had approached the Appellant later for a loan.
She told the Court that when she approached the Appellant, she was seeking money to do clearance at the port and that the money she sought was Ksh.930, 332.00. She told the Court that she did not open an account with the Appellant and that it was the Appellant who had cleared the suit motor vehicle from the port.
She further told the Court that the loan application shows that Ksh.1, 107,454.00 was advanced to her but did not know how much legal fees nor any other breakdown. She told the Court that she never signed the alleged loan form and never got a statement from the Appellant. She stated that there was a time she had paid Ksh.100, 000 to the Appellant through its Co-operative bank account. She told the Court that the Appellant had cleared the vehicle from the port in Mombasa on her behalf but did not know how much was spent.
