NAIROBI Kenya, May 14 -The building hosting the Nairobi Kadhi’s Court building in Upper Hill Nairobi was stolen and is illegally owned by a private company.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on May 13 said although the Judiciary of Kenya has been in actual possession and in use of the Court, the building is illegally owned by Swanya Limited.
The private company acquired it from the former Makueni MP, Eliud Mutua Maundu, according to the anti-graft body.
The EACC said they had instituted proceedings in court to recover the government house number HG 324, L.R. No. 209/12118 IR 65477.
On May 11, the Commission sought and obtained injunction orders from the Milimani Environment and Land Court restraining Victor Swanya Ogeto and Janet Nyanduko Ogeto from selling or otherwise dealing with the property pending the hearing and determination of the case.
The matter has been scheduled for hearing on July 3, 2023.
EACC has also sued former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja in his personal capacity on account of fraud, illegality, and acting beyond his powers and functions.
The Commission wants him ordered to pay general damages for fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
The Commission has also sued the former Makueni MP Eliud Mutua Maundu and Swanya Limited, to which the former legislator transferred the stolen property.
Also sued are the two Directors, Ogeto and his wife.
Investigations by EACC established that on March 10 1994, Gachanja, acting in the purported exercise of statutory powers conferred upon the Commissioner of Lands, illegally allocated the parcel of land to Maundu vide allotment Ref 44805/VI/39
Maundu was then the Makueni MP and Assistant Minister for Agriculture .
He subsequently transferred the property to Swanya Limited and the company charged the property with Daima Bank (now in liquidation) to secure an overdraft facility of Sh10,481,257.65.
On April 8, 1994, Justice John Michael Khamoni, the Judge residing in the house then, wrote to the then Hon. Chief Justice requesting for intervention so that the allotment could be reversed and the house kept for use by the Judiciary.
In March the following year, in blatant disregard of the existing alienation and public use of the property, and in contempt of protests by the then judicial officers, a title deed was processed in the name of Swanya Limited, following a transfer by Peter Maundu on February 14, 1995.
In the suit, EACC wants all the transactions culminating in the fraudulent acquisition of the Kadhi’s Court building revoked and ownership reverted to the Judiciary.
In February this year, the EACC also recovered a Sh70 million government house in Nyali Mombasa.
In a judgement delivered by the Environment and Land Court sitting in Mombasa, the court further ordered the then Commissioner of Lands who facilitated the fraudulent transaction to personally pay Sh5 million in damages for breaching public trust by dishing out public land to private persons.
The property, registered as MN/I/2396- HOUSE NUMBER HG143 Nyali estate belongs to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA).
In a new and progressive jurisprudence in the recovery of grabbed public land in Kenya, Justice Lucas Leperes Naikuni further ordered that the three defendants, excluding Mwita, in addition to surrendering the property, jointly pay Sh30 million in general damages for denying the Government use of the property for public benefit during the 22 years when the land was in illegal possession.
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