Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro who is being accused of colluding with local investors to defraud Tatu city off Sh5.3 billion worth piece of land.
BY SAM ALFAN.
A storm is looming after the Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro was accused of colluding with local investors to defraud Tatu city off Sh5.3 billion worth piece of land.
Foreign investors told the court that the DCIO had been colluding with minority local shareholders to illegally defraud them of land which is part of the development of Sh240 billion Tatu City.
The aggrieved shareholders have demanded prompt investigations into Muhoro’s alleged involvement in corruption; bribery and abuse of office by seeking to shield their local partners who have attempted to alienate and transfer more than 2,000 acres of land to third parties.
The investors claim they had already sold the prime land to a local developer-Daykio Plantations-but have been unable to transfer ownership upon discovery that their local rivals had unlawfully secured possession of the property through Purple Saturn Properties Ltd.
The foreign investors had also made a formal complaint to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on August 3, last year and after an exhaustive probe, detectives recommended the prosecution of former Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor, Nahashon Nyaga and his eight associates.
However, Nyagah moved to the High Court and was granted temporary conservatory orders stopping his arrest and prosecution. Similarly, lawyers Nelson Havi and Michael Osundwa have blocked criminal proceedings involving the changes in the shareholding and directorship of Purple Saturn Properties Ltd.
In a detailed letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keriako Tobiko, the foreign investors claim Muhoro and the alleged defrauders plotted a parallel investigation to manufacture evidence and exonerate the culprits. They claim an agreement was reached to pay a Sh50million bribe to Muhoro with a promise to be allocated 300 acres after securing liberty for the alleged fraudsters.
Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi, who is representing the foreign investors, explained that Muhoro hand-picked the team of investigators and personally supervised the parallel probe that recommended the beneficial owners of the properties be charged with a number of criminal investigations. In the same vein, the detectives suggested that Nyagah and his associates be allowed to go scot-free, he said.
Ahmednassir said the foreign investors were from America, Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Norway and they had already protested to their governments about the indiscriminate manner their affairs were being handled locally. He asked Tobiko to urgently intervene and direct the Inspector-General of Police, Joseph Boinnet to investigate Muhoro’s alleged misconduct.
“We demand that you direct the Inspector-General of Police to start fresh investigation, under an independent and transparent system, to probe the circumstances under which our clients were defrauded of the land,” Ahmednassir said in the letter that is copied to President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaiserry, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and diplomats.
Interestingly, the Court of Appeal recently upheld a decision by Tatu City Ltd and Kofinaf Ltd to pull out of all the commercial disputes lodged by Nyagah and industrialist Vimal Shah.
Appellate Judges Erastus Githinji, Martha Koome and G.B.M. Kariuki ruled that seven directors of the two firms were privy to resolutions passed by the board during its meeting held on September 16, last year that the suits were filed without authority.
