A Nairobi court has upheld a warrant of arrést for the owner of a chain of high-end restaurants after she went underground amid allégations of her involvement in a Ksh520 million loan frāud scheme.

Ninaa Shivangi and her partner Jayesh Shanghavi are the owners of The Good Earth Group Ltd – which operates popular upmarket restaurants Nyama Mama, Blue Door Lounge & Club, Chinese restaurant brand Yao and Good Earth Bakery & Deli.

The couple is accused of intent to defraud after they obtained a Ksh520 million loan from Victoria Commercial Bank without registering security.

Court documents disclosed that they obtained the loan on the premise that “the collateral to be issued was being processed and would be registered accordingly”. The collateral was never registered.

Ninaa was required in court on Wednesday, December 8 but failed to show up. Her lawyer told the court she had travelled out of the country and sought a two-week suspension of the arrèst warrant, which was denied.

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Senior principal magistrate Zainab Abdul noted that Shivangi knew she was expected in court. The lender had applied to be allowed to place an advertisement in the dailies announcing that she was missing.

Her husband was released on bail. The couple is accused of committing the offence on diverse dates between December 10, 2018, and November 2020.

According to their lawyer, Ninaa had left the country by the time her spouse was arrested by police in Nairobi.

They wanted her allowed to present herself once she got back. The lender sought to have the investigation officer summoned to explain efforts made to arrést her.

The court gave Ninaa two weeks to present herself in court “without embarrassing her”. The case will be mentioned on December 21, 2021.

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