The High Court has directed the liquidator of the collapsed United Insurance, Kamal Anantroy Bhatt, to hold a creditors meeting within two weeks.

The court directed that the meeting be held physically on September 11, 2026, at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi or another accessible venue, with creditors allowed to participate virtually.

The court further directed the liquidator to file an index of all reports within 14 days.

Mr Bhatt told the court that he had started paying verified creditors before court orders halted the process.

Mr Bhatt appeared before the court following applications by shareholders and creditors seeking his removal and the appointment of the official receiver to take over the liquidation.

Mr Bhatt told the court that he had convened a creditors’ meeting on October 2, 2025, begun verification of claims and started processing payments before the process was stopped.

He said creditors at the meeting authorised the sale of the insurer’s properties to settle all verified claims.

Read: Treasury softens payouts in collapsed insurance firms

The liquidator said the valuation of the company’s properties had taken time because more than 350 title deeds had to be assessed before a comprehensive report could be prepared.

According to Mr Bhatt, the last valuation conducted on the insurer’s properties was a desktop valuation carried out in 2014.

He said desktop valuation reports were submitted in a flash disk to the High Court through lawyers representing the creditors and shareholders.

“I have done my best to update the creditors and process payments. I had started processing payments but was stopped by the court,” Bhatt told the court.

The liquidator also told the court that he had filed a Sh141 million recovery claim against George Kariuki over compensation funds from the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) belonging to Fidei Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of United Insurance.

He said the recovery process had been delayed by difficulties in changing the directors of Fidei Holdings.

Read: Creditors seek to eject United Insurance liquidator Kamal Bhatt over Sh151m row

Mr Bhatt told the court that he would require two weeks to convene another creditors’ meeting, but needed funds to place advertisements in two newspapers and secure a venue. The case will be heard on September 28, 2026.

The applications seeking Mr Bhatt’s removal were filed by lawyers Wanjiku Ithondeka, representing shareholders, and Charles Kihara, acting for some creditors.

They accused the liquidator of spending at least Sh151 million without adequate consultation.

The creditors and shareholders claimed the Policyholders Compensation Fund provided Mr Bhatt with about Sh340 million and properties valued at approximately Sh5 billion to facilitate the liquidation.

One of the issues raised was Bhatt’s monthly remuneration of Sh5 million.

Mr Kihara questioned whether the liquidator had authority to draw the amount, but Bhatt defended the fees, saying they were reasonable and below what he was entitled to charge under applicable rules.

He said a liquidator in a voluntary winding-up is entitled to Sh100,000 for the first Sh1 million and 10 per cent of the total value of assets.

For contentious winding-up proceedings such as United Insurance’s case, Mr Bhatt said the applicable fee was Sh150,000 for the first Sh1 million and 10 per cent of the remainder.

“My fees are Sh5 million exclusive of VAT per month. I consider them reasonable and in some cases below industry average. In exercising discretion on my remuneration, I considered the amount of work to be done in this liquidation,” he said.

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