The Commercial Division of the High Court has ordered Jie County MP, Lokii Peter Abrahams, to pay businessman and money lender Amit Jain nearly 5 billion Shillings for failure to repay a loan taken in 2012.
Justice Steven Mubiru ruled that Lokii defaulted on a 265 million Shillings loan, which he had agreed to repay by June 22, 2013, at an interest rate of 2 per cent per month. As security, Lokii provided the logbook of his Mitsubishi Fuso Fighter truck and issued two cheques of 20 million Shillings each. However, the cheques were later dishonoured, and he did not settle the debt.
In 2014, Jain filed a case seeking to recover a sum of 335.175 million Shillings, which included the principal and accumulated interest at the time. In his defence, Lokii denied borrowing the money, claiming that the agreement had been altered without his consent and that the documents presented in court related to a different transaction.
The case was eventually heard in 2021 and concluded in 2022. In his judgment, Justice Mubiru found that the evidence presented, including documents and the conduct of the parties, proved that Lokii had indeed borrowed the money and failed to repay it.
The court also found that the agreed interest rate of 2 per cent per month, equivalent to 24 per cent per year, was within the legal limit set for money lenders under the Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders framework.
As a result, the court ordered Lokii to pay 333.175 million Shillings, with interest accruing at 24 per cent per annum from 2014. This has increased the total amount owed to nearly 5 billion Shillings to date. Lokii was also ordered to cover the legal costs of the case.
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