The estate of the late Mombasa tycoon Dalip Singh Dhanjal will be shared equally among his two children and grandson.
This brings to close years of a court battle between his daughter Jaswinder Kaur Koundu and son Nirmal Dhanjal.
The old Dhanjal died in 2010.
Mombasa high court judge John Onyiego said the estate, which is estimated to be over Sh15 billion should be shared among the three beneficiaries, the siblings and their nephew
“Having gone through the ownership documents in support of the assets listed under category A, I am satisfied that the identified assets whose ownership is clear that the estate is to be shared out between three beneficent in equal measure,” Judge Onyiego said.
However, the minor’s share will be held in trust for his benefit until he attains the age of majority.
Some of the properties to be shared out among the three include several plots in Mombasa, shares in companies and also several bank accounts.
Travellers Beach Hotel is also among the property they own and this puts the property in contention and may affect its business at large.
According to the judgement, the late Dalip Singh Dhanjal died in July 2010 and his son Nirmal, current chairman of Mombasa’s Sikh Temple, deceived the Court by claiming to be the sole survivor of his late father, then fraudulently petitioned for a grant of representation culminating to the issuance of a grant of letters of administration intestate to him in 2013.
However, in 2016 his sister sought revocation of the grant on grounds that the said grant was obtained fraudulently and through the concealment of material information.
She claimed that his brother did not disclose to the court that she was also a beneficiary of the estate and therefore ought to have been consulted or her consent sought.
In 2018 by consent, both siblings revoked the grant and issued a fresh grant to the two Nirmal and Jaswinder but Nirmal was ordered to prove a fully accurate account of the estate since December 19 2012 to the date of the consent.
Their cousins Sukhwant Kaur Dhanjal and Joginder Singh Dhanjal asked to be enjoined in the matter as administrators of their late father Jaswant’s estate, It was their argument that some of the properties listed in the succession were co-owned and developed by their uncle Dalip and their late father Jaswant.
They also brought it to the attention of the court that the late Dalip had a third son Rajpal Dhanjal who passed on in 2006 but left a widow and a son aged 15 years which was never disclosed to the court.
The court dismissed the application by the cousins and entered the young nephew as the third beneficiary in the will.