A lawsuit has been filed against Saboti Member of Parliament Caleb Amisi for allegedly failing to pay soft loans amounting to Ksh7.9 million he took from a diplomat for campaigns during the 2022 elections.
Josphat Machogu, through his lawyer Daniel Achach, claims that they first met sometime in June 2021 when Amisi and other parliament members paid an official visit to IGAD offices in Djibouti, after which they became friends, exchanged contacts and kept talking.
While seeking to have the court compel the MP to refund USD 60,300 (Ksh7.9 million), Machogu claims the MP sought soft loans while claiming that he was campaigning to regain his National Assembly seat in the general elections in 2022 and that he was unable to raise enough funds through donations and fundraisers, hence needed a refundable soft loan.
“The plaintiff prays for judgment against the defendant sixty thousand three hundred USD (USD 60,300.00),” the court papers read in part.
The diplomat contends that on diverse dates between January 2022 and September 2022, MP Amisi approached him and requested soft loans of different amounts.
"On the understanding that this was a loan and not a campaign donation, Machogu and the MP agreed that the same would be sent to Amisi’s personal bank account, being a Cooperative Bank account in Lavington branch," the court papers state.
According to the court papers, on or about January 6, 2022, the MP requested for and Machogu advanced a soft loan of Ksh500,000 which was sent as a direct cash deposit to Amisi's Cooperative Bank account.
"The defendant requested another loan from the plaintiff on or about April 2022, upon which the plaintiff advanced an additional sum of fifty thousand United States dollars (50,000 USD), through bank transfer to his Cooperative bank account on or about April 12, 2022," lawyer Achach states in the court papers.
In September 2022, after the general elections, MP Amisi further requested another soft loan from Machogu to enable him to offset some unforeseen bills that resulted from the campaigns, upon which the petitioner advanced to the lawmaker an additional sum of USD10,300 through bank transfer to the same Cooperative bank on or about September 7, 2022.
Further, the petitioner argues that it was their understanding that upon winning the elections and being sworn in, the lawmaker would pay all the soft loans advanced in one instalment.
“In the alternative, the MP expressed to me that should he not win in the elections, he would give me a payment proposal that would be acceptable, but Amisi was almost very sure of a win with my soft loan,” Machogu says.
Amisi's threats
Despite the diplomat meeting his part of the agreement, the MP has allegedly failed to repay the soft loans advanced to him by the petitioner.
“I continue to suffer loss and damages….l have made several attempts to reach out to the MP for the payment but he became evasive, slippery and also for a long period of time and when he finally did, Amisi became abusive and threatening to me,” the diplomat states.
"The MP has been threatening the plaintiff with dire consequences should he continue demanding the payment of the loan, including telling the plaintiff ‘Kitakuramba’ and that he is not a licensed financial institution to issue loans and therefore should not expect any payment," the court papers state.
Amisi is yet to respond to the suit.
