Rich List Briton is charged with manslaughter after 48 killed in dam disaster
A BRITISH millionaire has been charged with manslaughter after 48 impoverished villagers died when a dam burst on his farm estate in Kenya.
Perry Mansukhlal Kansagra, 44, is a member of one of the UK’s richest families, who are worth an estimated £320 million. He denies the manslaughter charges but faces life imprisonment if found guilty.
Kenyan politicians have said the dam was built without either the required legal permission or heed to safety laws, a claim that Kansagra denies.
The Kansagras were listed as the 388th richest family in Britain in the Sunday Times Rich List.
The dam was built on a stream near Kansagra’s 33,000-acre farm which grows tea, coffee and roses.
The estate, known as Patel Farm, is near a township called Solai in Nakuru County, about 120 miles north of the capital Nairobi.
The dam burst in May after heavy rain, washing away homes and schools in three villages downstream. Of the 48 victims, 23 were children. A further 5,000 residents lost their homes.
Joseph Gothogo, 33, and his wife Rose, 27, lost their four young children – an eight-year-old daughter and three sons, aged three, four and one month – when their house was swept away in the disaster.
He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I tried to save them but the house collapsed and they were swept away
‘My four kids died as our house was swept away’
together. There was nothing I could do. I was overwhelmed by waters.’
The bodies were found up to six miles away. Like other victims, Mr Gothogo was promised £1,500 for his lost home, and £ 750 for every family member who died. However, he was made to sign i ndemnity forms which stated that they cannot sue Kansagra’s business Solai Group of Companies after receiving the money. But, so far, he has not received any of the cash.
Kansagra was in the UK when the disaster happened and is now on bail in Kenya. He has been forced to surrender his British and Kenyan passports.
The Kansagra family enjoy a fabulously wealthy lifestyle. Perry’s uncle Bhupendra Kansagra, 62, lives in a £ 5 million mansion in Northwood, North-West London.
Bhupendra’s brothers, Ramesh, 68, and Rajni, 76, live in multimillion-pound mansions in London and Radlett, Hertfordshire. In total the family own at least seven properties across London and Hertfordshire, together worth £20 million.
Their business assets include One Aldwych, a five-star hotel in Central London where rooms start from £300 a night.
Prestigious fee- paying Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in Elstree, Hertfordshire – where Ramesh Kansagra’s son Ronak, 30, was a pupil – now boasts the Solai indoor cricket centre, built after a donation by the family.
The Mail on Sunday asked Perry Kansagra’s Kenyan lawyer Evans Morani why victims of the dam disaster were made to sign indemnity forms. He said he had heard of the forms but could not comment as he had not seen any.