BY SAM ALFAN.
Nakuru Town west Member of Parliament Samuel Otara Arama has been jailed for six months after he was found guilty of an offense of an attempt to defraud a businessman of a property in Nakuru municipality.
The politician was, however, handed an alternative of Sh1.56 million after pleading with the court for leniency saying he had surrendered the land to the owner.
Also sentenced by the trial magistrate Vincent Wakumile are three former land officers at Nakuru John Mwaura, Daniel Nyantika and Charles Birundu. The trio will pay a fine of Sh1.04 million each to escape the jail term.
The lawyer who acted on the transaction Kennedy Onkoba will serve the same period of 6 months in prison or pay a fine of Sh560,000.
While passing the sentence, the court noted that all the accused persons did not directly benefit from the transaction and the subject title was returned to the complainant.
The trial court adopted the submission of the prosecuting counsel Joseph Irungu that it be guided by the sentencing policy guidelines developed by the Judiciary in meting out the sentence.
In their mitigation led by Dr. Ken Nyaundi they pleaded to the court to consider non-custodial sentence.
All the accused persons faced various offenses ranging from attempting to defraud, attempt to register a property without authority and abuse of office.
