Kenya: Court of Appeal rejects 185.5 million shillings refund claim against Central Bank

In Nairobi, Kenya's Court of Appeal has just closed a financial dispute that had dragged on for nearly thirty years between the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and a now-dissolved Malaysian company. The case centered on the aborted sale of the Grand Regency hotel, a landmark establishment in Nairobi whose history remains tied, in Kenyan memory, to the financial turmoil of the 1990s. According to Capital FM, the court rejected a claim for the refund of 185.5 million Kenyan shillings that the Malaysian company was demanding from the CBK following the failure of the hotel transaction. The source specifies neither the exact identity of the company nor the detailed legal grounds for the decision, leaving several questions open regarding the merits of the case. For the CBK, this decision puts an end to long-standing legal uncertainty, avoiding a significant cash outflow and reinforcing its position as a regulatory institution rather than a party to a prolonged commercial dispute. For foreign investors, the outcome sends a signal about the Kenyan judicial system's ability to rule, even belatedly, on cases inherited from a troubled financial period. From an analytical perspective, this judgment illustrates the structural slowness of Kenyan commercial justice when facing disputes involving the State, but also its ability to clear historical liabilities that weighed on the CBK's reputation. An open question remains: what were the circumstances