Modern Coast owner property row ends

An eight-year-old
succession dispute involving two widows of dead Mombasa tycoon Shahid Pervez
Butt and his son, who were disputing for control of assets estimated to be
worth Sh5 billion, has been resolved by a three-judge bench.

Mrs Akhtar Butt and her
son Haroon Butt, as well as Mrs Regine Butt and her two young children,
received the assets from a High Court bench comprised of Justices Eric Ogola,
Patrick Otieno, and Njoki Mwangi.

Blue Bell Properties,
Modern Coast Builders & Constructors, Pribhai Jivanjee and Company, and
Vantage Point Clearing and Forwarding were among the enterprises distributed
among the late tycoon family members.

Modern Coast Road
Transporters, Vantage Road Transporters, Modern Coast Express, and Modern Coast
Courier are among the other companies.

Mrs Akhtar Butt and Mrs
Regine Butt will each receive 6.25 percent of the properties, while Mr Haroon
Butt will maintain 35 percent and the two minor children will each receive 35
percent and 17 percent.

The court also ordered that;
seven parcels of land be divided in the same proportions among them.

The court documents
mentioned four bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Bermuda, the British Isles,
and Imperial Bank. Only the one in the United Kingdom was shared among them.

The court noticed that
the tycoon was said to own a number of automobiles. However, according to the
records, he only owned two of them.

According to the court,
the two vehicles are available as estate property and can be distributed using
the same method as other assets.

“Regine Butt and
Haroon Butt be and are hereby appointed trustees of such bequests (property) as
have been made hereunder in favor of the deceased’s children (two minors) in
conformity with Muslim Law,” the judges declared.

The court denied a
request by the minors’ grandmother, Mrs Roselinde Gudrun Ostertag, who is also
Regine Butt’s mother, to be appointed trustee over any bequest made to them
(minors).

The three-judge bench
decided, “We refuse Roselinde Gudrun Ostertag’s request and instead
appoint Regine and Haroon as trustees in guardianship of the two minors and
their shares in the estate.”

They also stated that
any assets from the late tycoon’s estate that were unintentionally left off the
confirmed list of assets will be divided according to the formula they
utilized.

The court also
concluded that no evidence was presented to show that the deceased acted
improperly in the manner the firms and their finances were managed.

Mr Butt was shot and
killed in Changamwe on July 11, 2014, as he travelled from Mombasa’s Moi
International Airport.

The ruling puts an end
to a dispute in which one of the widows was evicted from her house.

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