A local bank in Mombasa is auctioning a lavish house owned by tycoon Ali Punjani.
The bank seized the house over Punjani’s failure to settle a Ksh1 billion loan he took from the bank.
Garam Auctioneers was contracted by the bank to execute the auction.
In a notice on the papers Tuesday, Garam described the property as prime and situated in the posh Nyali neighbourhood.
The eight-bedroom double-storey mansion extends to Bondeni, still in Nyali.
“The property is situated within Nyali Estate, Mombasa County. Access it off Links Road, through Nyali Road to Moyne Drive, through to Kenyatta Avenue and Green-Wood Drive.
“The subject is situated along an unnamed Cul-de-sac Access Road and it’s a second-row beach plot approximately 300m off Green Wood Drive,” Garam advertised.
It has a swimming pool and staff quarters and overlooks the Indian Ocean.
Punjani was a close associate of convicted drug lords, the Akashas.
The two brothers Baktash and Ibrahim were jailed in the US for peddling drugs.
They have been arrested in Kenya before being deported to the US to face trial.
Punjani has been on police radar over allegation of drug trafficking.
In August 2019, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raided his house in Mombasa on orders by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.
The house was well guarded and it took police 20 hours to break in as access was denied.
He was in India at the time undergoing heart surgery. He decided to stay there after the operation to evade arrest.
