Nairobi court dismisses bid to halt tribunal proceedings in tycoon Chris Obure's $59 million Senteu Plaza battle

A Nairobi court has handed Kenyan billionaire Chris Obure a significant legal victory, dismissing a bid to overturn proceedings before a business tenancy tribunal in a long-running dispute over Senteu Plaza, one of Kilimani's most prominent commercial properties.

In a 10-page judgment delivered on June 15, 2026, Justice Charles G. Mbogo of the Environment and Land Court dismissed a Notice of Motion filed by Ajeetkumar C. Shah and Others, finding the application had no merit. "The Court finds no merit in the Notice of Motion dated 5th August 2025," Justice Mbogo ruled, directing each party to bear its own costs and ordering that the matter be marked as closed.

The applicants had sought a series of judicial review orders against the Business Premises Rent Tribunal, including the quashing of tribunal decisions made in connection with the Senteu Plaza property along Lenana Road, as well as an order prohibiting the tribunal from handling any further matters connected to the premises. The court declined to grant any of the orders sought.

The ruling effectively upholds the position of SBS Dunhill Group (EA) Limited, Obure's company, which was named as the second respondent in the proceedings. It brings to a close a legal challenge that sought to question the tribunal's handling of the tenancy dispute and provides the group with a measure of certainty regarding its interests in the property.

Legal analysts said the judgment reflects the well-established principle that courts will not readily interfere with proceedings before specialised tribunals unless there are clear and substantial legal grounds warranting intervention, a threshold the applicants were unable to meet.

The court victory comes barely a month after SBS Dunhill Group filed a separate multi-billion-shilling suit at the Commercial and Tax Division of the High Court, seeking more than KSh7.6 billion ($58.5 million at $1 to KSh129.87) in compensation over what it describes as an illegal eviction from the same Senteu Plaza property in May 2025.

In that suit, the company alleges it was unlawfully evicted, resulting in substantial financial losses that include the alleged disappearance of 330 kilograms of jewellery and family gold bars, as well as cash reportedly kept in a diplomatic safe. The company is seeking compensation for the alleged loss of the gold, renovation costs, excess payments, business losses, damages and legal expenses. Those claims remain before the court and are yet to be determined. The defendants in that matter have not publicly responded to the allegations in the pleadings.

Obure is one of Kenya's most prominent businessmen, with interests spanning real estate, commercial property and other sectors. The Senteu Plaza dispute has attracted sustained public attention given the scale of the compensation claim and the nature of the allegations, including the reported loss of significant quantities of gold and jewellery from the premises following the alleged eviction.

With the Environment and Land Court having formally closed the judicial review file, SBS Dunhill Group emerges from this chapter of the litigation in a stronger position, though the larger compensation battle, and the question of what happened to the gold bars and jewellery — remains very much alive before the High Court.