SK Macharia Assets to be Seized After Bankruptcy Order

Kevin Namunwa | Oct 5, 2020

The state is set to seize assets of Royal Media Services’ (RMS) owner SK Macharia after the businessman lost his appeal against a court judgment declaring him bankrupt over a 34-year debt. RMS is included in the assets that are at a risk of being seized.

The order was triggered by last year’s Court of Appeal decision that rejected Mr Macharia and his wife’s opposition to being declared bankrupt over a Ksh 500,000 debt, which has since ballooned to Ksh 293.4 million.

“The Official Receiver will prepare a statement of affairs detailing all his assets and liabilities with a view of setting them,” a source at the AG’s office who requested anonymity told Business Daily, “The notice has been issued for the benefit of all creditors and captures all his debts, all bank loans, suppliers and any other creditors.”

As per the order, the media mogul, will lose access to his businesses, bank accounts and property that will be under the watch of the official receiver.

He also risks losing directorship in companies that he and his wife, Purity Gathoni, own, including Royal Media Services which owns Citizen TV and radio as well as several vernacular radio stations.

However, the RMS owner still has some cards to play.

He has the option of keeping the Official Receiver, Mr Mark Gakuru, at bay by issuing a plan on how he intends to repay all his debts and enter into court-supervised agreements with all the creditors.

The law demands that Mr Gakuru summon a general meeting of the creditors to discuss how to deal with the businessman’s property. 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.

Mr Macharia lost an appeal, which sought to bar the State from enforcing a 2009 bankruptcy ruling, last year.

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