How US-based woman lost Sh50 million in mansion deal
Crime and Justice
By
Daniel Chege
| Sep 25, 2026
On June 23, 2023, Rosemary Wacuka entered into a sale agreement with Paul Chinaa for the purchase of two prime properties in Lanet, Nakuru, at a total cost of Sh50 million.
The properties hosted a four-bedroom house and four bed-sitters.
She was also promised a Mercedes-Benz vehicle as a gift if she paid the purchase price in full.
At that time, Wacuka was in the United States and although she had not seen the property, she trusted her sister to do due diligence before purchasing it.
However, Wacuka is not the owner of the mansion or the vehicle today after she allegedly breached the contract she had signed.
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She also lost Sh5 million out of the Sh11.53 million she paid to Chinaa, who retained it as per the contract signed.
Wacuka, who only got refunded Sh6.53 million, plus Sh250,000 in damages without consideration of the legal fees, is crying foul.
She says she was duped into believing that the property was worth Sh50 million, but after conducting a valuation, she discovered that it was only worth Sh15 million.
She blames Chinaa for her misfortunes and seeks damages for time wasted, emotional damage from losing a property and compensation for non-disclosure of facts.
Wacuka says she is the victim of fraud and that she was taken advantage of by Chinaa.
Further, she had to seek legal redress, including hiring a lawyer, in order to regain Sh6.53 million of the Sh11.53 million she paid Chinaa.
Court records show that the dispute between Wacuka and Chinaa ended on January 31 last year when the court closed the file.
This was after Chinaa agreed to refund Wacuka the Sh6.53 million plus Sh250,000 as costs for the case she had filed against him. The consent, signed on January 29, 2025, was adopted by the Environment and Land Court in Nakuru.
“By consent of the parties, this matter be settled after the decretal sum of Sh6.78 million is paid to the plaintiff. Upon payment, the matter be marked as closed,” the consent read.
A year later, Wacuka is still in anguish. But how did she find herself in the mess? In her documents, she outlines how during the agreement signing, she paid Sh10 million and a further Sh1.53 million, which went towards Chinaa’s loan repayment.
She executed the sale agreement while in the USA and made the payments, based on photographs that Chinaa shared with her through WhatsApp.
As per the agreement, she was supposed to pay Sh20 million within 60 days of June 23, 2023 and the remaining Sh20 million in instalments of Sh306,361 every month until full payment.
When Wacuka returned to Kenya, she was shocked that there were no proper roads to the properties.
“There were no accessible roads, contrary to the information he relayed to her, before the execution of the agreement,” read her documents.
She further discovered that Chinaa had allegedly overpriced the properties, through a valuation she conducted on the land and developments, putting it at Sh15 million.
She further stated that she discovered visible cracks on the walls of the 4-bedroom house together with bed sitters, all of which were not disclosed to her.
On September 5, 2024, she wrote a letter terminating the sale agreement due to alleged misrepresentation and non-disclosure and demanded a refund, issuing a 21-day notice as per the agreement.
Two weeks later, Chinaa, through his lawyer, responded, claiming that he rescinded the agreement because Wacuka had breached the agreement when she failed to pay the Sh20 million by August 2023.
He reiterated that the sale agreement required that upon rescission, the deposit be refunded less the penalty, 10 per cent of the purchase price.
He said he was willing to refund the Sh6.53 million, which he did after the court case.
dchege@standardmedia.co.ke