Two businessmen, John Gitau Ngumu and Atek Otech Richard, have been charged with defrauding a prime piece of land along the bustling Mombasa Road, valued at a staggering KSh 1.6 billion.
The two traders , who appeared before Milimani Magistrate Benmark Ekhubi on Thursday, faced six serious charges, including conspiracy to defraud, forgery of a title deed, and presenting these forged documents to the Deputy Registrar of the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi.
The charges stem from an elaborate scheme to unlawfully acquire Land Reference Number 21068, a plot measuring 0.6724 hectares, located in one of Nairobi’s prime commercial corridors.
The land in question belongs to Landmark Freight Services Limited, which was the alleged target of the fraud.
The duo denied all the charges, pleading not guilty in court.
Gitau and Otech were charged alongside their co-accused, Bernard Otieno Mallo, who failed to attend the plea taking due to health reasons.
Mallo faces additional charges related to the fraudulent transaction, including perjury, as his involvement allegedly included filing false testimony in a judicial proceeding tied to the land dispute.
According to the charge sheet, the three accused orchestrated a complex fraud operation, where Gitau and Otech, in collaboration with others not yet in court, forged crucial land documents to fraudulently claim ownership of the land.
The forged title deed and other documents were then presented to the Deputy Registrar of the Environment and Land Court, where they falsely purport to be legitimate records from the Ministry of Lands.
The charge sheet provides chilling details of the alleged scheme, describing how the businessmen presented forged documents that falsely claimed them as the rightful owners of the valuable parcel of land.
In one of the charges, Gitau and Otech are accused of conspiring to deceive Landmark Freight Services by pretending to be the rightful owners of the land, a claim they knew was utterly false.
Further charges accuse them of producing and presenting fake documents, including a fraudulent title deed (Grant) I.R. No. 143069, in favor of Beba Freight Limited.
These documents were passed off as legitimate Ministry of Lands documents, even though the businessmen allegedly knew they were counterfeit.
Mallo’s involvement is also highlighted in the charges.
On July 2, 2024, he allegedly presented a forged allotment letter to the Deputy Registrar, falsely claiming it was a legitimate document from the Ministry of Lands.
The letter purportedly belonged to Beba Freight Limited and related to the disputed land.
In addition to charges of uttering a false document, Mallo faces a perjury charge for providing false testimony in a court affidavit related to the land case.
The charge sheet describes how Mallo swore an affidavit in the Environment and Land Court, where he is accused of knowingly providing false testimony that was crucial to the case, further complicating the legal proceedings surrounding the land dispute.
In court, Gitau and Otech vehemently denied the charges, urging the magistrate to grant them bail on reasonable terms.
The businessmen requested bail, assuring the court of their commitment to comply with any conditions.
After considering their plea, Magistrate Ekhubi granted them a bond of KSh 600,000 or a cash bail of KSh 250,000.
They were also required to provide three contact persons, one of whom must be a civil servant, as part of the bail conditions.
The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has promised to pursue the case diligently, sending a strong message to those who think they can exploit the system for personal gain.
