The hearing of a case in which high-ranking officials of a self-help group and a former Chief are facing charges of land fraud worth Sh1 billion in Nairobi’s Donholm Estate will now be heard in, May this year.
This follows the transfer of Chief Magistrate Wendy Micheni to the Commercial Courts division which has been presiding over the case.
The four include former Kayole Chief, Alexander Hoops, Patrobas Awino, the organizing Secretary of the Sowesava Self-help Group, Peter Gitau and Peter Njoroge. They are facing five counts of forgery and fraud.
Milimani chief magistrate Lucas Onyina who replaced Micheni will take over the hearing of the criminal case which has been pending in Court for the last four years.
Onyina asked for the typed proceedings and directed that the matter be heard on May 15.
Five witnesses including the Investigating officer, a Social service officer and a land registrar are yet to testify.
In the first count, they were accused of intent to defraud Gidjoy Investment Ltd of 11.8 acres of land in Donholm.
In the second count, the four were accused of forging a lease agreement purportedly signed by a land registrar.
The disputed parcel of land was formerly registered as Nairobi /block 82/7333 It is now part of the amalgamation of other parcels valued at KSh 944 million.
Tussle over Sh1 billion Donholm land is far from over – Prosecution
They were accused of forging three crucial land ownership documents namely a title deed, a lease agreement and an allotment letter.
The four were accused of forging a lease agreement purportedly signed by Rosemary Ngong’a, a land registrar, on unknown dates within the country.
They are out on a cash bail of Sh1 million with an alternative bond of Sh2 million with the same surety amount.
During a previous hearing, Abigail Mbagaya a former Chairperson of the National Land Commission told Court that she had received complaints over the land in question.
Mukolwe testified that the Commission had received complaints from several claimants including the County Government of Nairobi regarding the parcel of land is known as Nairobi Block 82/7333.
According to Mukolwe, the County Government, having suspected that the land constituted public land, had sought clarification from the NLC on its true ownership.
The former NLC vice-chairperson produced in court an advertisement published by the Commission in the Standard newspaper on January 14, 2016, inviting all interested parties to appear before it to make submissions concerning the ownership of the land.
“I later learned about Gazette Notice 138 dated 9th November 2018, which purported to give an outcome of the NLC proceedings. The notice had been signed by the NLC Chairperson Muhammad Swazuri,” she said.
The said Gazette Notice, a copy of which Mukolwe produced in Court, directed the Chief Land Registrar to issue the disputed title to Nairobi City County Government.
The former NLC Vice-Chair disowned the notice, stating that Swazuri had arrived at the decision alone.
The court also heard that the four forged a lease document purportedly signed and stamped by Ngarua Kamau and Kamau an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
The accused persons were also accused of conspiring to defraud Gidjoy Investments Limited.
They planned to do this by falsely pretending they had a genuine title deed dated November 28, 2001, issued and signed by Rosemary Ngong’a, the registrar of a land.