Billionaire businessman Jimmy Wanjigi has filed an appeal at the High Court contesting a lower court’s verdict that ordered him to pay Sh1.37 million to a clothing company over debt dispute.
The tycoon was sued last year by Fazal – The Luxury Boutique, a high-end clothing retail company in Nairobi for allegedly failing to pay Sh1.37 million for clothes sold to him in 2019.
In his appeal, Wajingi has accused Magistrate D.M Kivuti of bias in how he handled the case filed by the store against him.
“The magistrate erred in law and fact by giving an order which had no legal or factual basis which was devoid of substance or sound analysis backing it,” he said.
Wajingi argues that the magistrate was totally biased in favour of the store during the course of the hearing of the application and he erred in law by deliberately disregarding weighty issues raised by the defendant.
He argues that the court erred in law by basing his orders on inadmissible evidence and unauthenticated documents in the form of Whats App text messages.
He also claims that the trial magistrate erred in law by failing to hold that the suit before him was an incompetent, frivolous, vexatious and total abuse of the court process.
On January 22, 2021, ruled that Wanjigi should settle the debt.
The clothing store claimed that in 2019 it supplied Wajingi with assorted men’s clothing for his use which included two blazers said to be tailored for royalty and presidents of the world and six assorted trousers.
The tycoon allegedly acquired five pairs of designer trousers and two jackets from Fazal, whose parent company is Ravello Limited.
He, however, allegedly failed to pay for the Ermenegildo Zegna trousers and two Brioni jackets despite the multiple occasions the store reached out to Wanjigi on instant messaging service WhatsApp.
In their court papers, Ravello said Wanjigi owed the clothing company Sh1.3 million for the five pairs of trousers and two jackets, and Sh67,500 for another Zegna pair of trousers that he had allegedly previously obtained, but failed to pay for.
Ravello said Wanjigi had acquired the pair of trousers at Sh67,500, but he claimed it couldn’t fit him and was to return it to the company.
However, the firm said that Wanjigi failed to return the trousers, or pay for it.
As a result, Ravello said the businessman owed the company a total of Sh1.367 million.
Ravello’s MD Aziz Faizal alleged that the clothes were supplied on credit due to the cordial business relationship that had existed between them over the years.