Retired teachers lawyer Domnic Kimatta when he appeared before National Assembly Education Committee at Continental House in 2014 [Boniface Okendo, Standard]
The widow of a Nakuru lawyer has filed a counter claim against businessman Narwar Singh, who sued her over Sh28 million debt allegedly incurred by the deceased.
The woman wants Mr Singh to pay Dominic Kimatta’s law firm Sh100 million before he claims money allegedly owed to him.
In submissions filed before Justice Teresia Matheka, her lawyer Joshua Musembi has disputed her name is Hildah Kimatta as referred to in Singh's suit papers.
The lawyer, who is one of the administrators of Kimatta’s law firm, accuses Singh of lying to court about the debt.
Musembi claims they accessed the firm’s bank accounts to ascertain the amount held and interrogated Singh’s files to ascertain he owes the firm legal fees.
“We contacted Bank of Baroba and Eco Bank. Statements from Bank of Baroda do not reflect the funds Singh said he banked there. We are yet to obtain statements from Eco Bank,” he says.
“We discovered that substantial fees has not been paid to the firm and is still outstanding. Singh and his partners owe the firm over Sh100 million in legal fees.”
Musembi accuses Singh of refusing to cooperate in discussions of how the said fees would be recovered.
“It is a premature and a pressurised action with a move to harass deceased’s family,” claims Musembi.
He wants Kimatta’s widow and the family to only be involved in the matter after the bills are taxed and Singh’s liability to the law firm ascertained.
He adds that if the law firm owes Singh money, then the debt can be offset against whatever he owes the firm.
In the case filed last year, Singh claims he remitted Sh28,934,000 to Kimatta and Co Advocates account in Nakuru on October 23, 2019, following a suit against the National Bank.
In the suit represented by the late Kimatta (pictured), Singh had applied for orders for National Bank to release to him a parcel of land he had used as a loan security.
On May 16, 2019, the court ordered Singh to pay the bank Sh28,933,698.
“I deposited the money to Kimatta’s account for him to effect payment to the bank,” he claims.
Kimatta died on October 25, 2020.
