The Commercial Division of the High Court in Blantyre on Tuesday refused to grant lawyer Bazuka Mhango an injunction, stopping NBS Bank from selling his plots after he allegedly failed to service a loan.
Court records show that Mhango got a loan from the bank in January 2008 amounting to K35 million and presented plots number BW 283 (also known as Title Number Blantyre West 391) and LE 79 (also known as Title Number Limbe East 448) as collateral.
The loan was for 10 years but Mhango allegedly failed to repay it despite a number of reminders. But in 2011, Mhango applied for another loan, which the bank did not grant.
As of November last year, the loan had accumulated to over K104 million.
According to court documents, Mhango applied for an injunction stopping NBS from selling the plots for what he termed as wrong debits and inflated amounts,
But in his ruling on Tuesday, Judge John Katsala observed that there was no dispute that Mhango took the loan and that he had problems in servicing it.
“The evidence so far before me shows that the applicant [Mhango] obtained a loan of K35 million which was repayable in 10 years. The evidence also shows that the servicing of the loan was not up-to-date,” said Katsala.
The judge then refused to grant an injunction to stop NBS from selling the plots as there was evidence that the bank was acting procedurally.
“In the foregoing, I refuse to grant the injunction sought and the application is dismissed with costs. On the other hand, if the property was to be sold and the plaintiff succeeded in his action herein, he can be compensated by way of damages,” said the judge.
