Mwaita denies land fraud charges, released on Sh10 million bond
He was charged with unlawfully creating two title deeds with the intent to defraud the rightful owners of two prime parcels of land
Former lands commissioner and ex-Baringo Central MP Sammy Silas Komen Mwaita has been released on a Sh10 million bond or an alternative of Sh2 million bail with two sureties after he was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts over alleged land fraud.
He faces multiple charges involving property worth Sh150 million along Mai Mahiu Road in Nairobi West.
Mwaita was charged with unlawfully creating two title deeds with the intent to defraud the rightful owners of two prime parcels of land.
The prosecution told the court that Mwaita and his co-accused, Brian Kiptoo Kiplangat, conspired on or before March 30, 2001 to fraudulently generate title documents for Grant Title Land Reference No. 209/9968 IR No. 85847 without legal authority.
The forged documents were intended to defraud Rose Njoki King’au of land designated as Plot No. “A”.
The prosecution further revealed that Mwaita, while serving in public office, fraudulently registered both Plot “A” and an adjacent parcel identified as Plot “B”, without the consent or knowledge of their respective owners, King’au and Micugu Wagatharia, an act that constituted abuse of office.
In addition to the fraud charges, Mwaita faces several other counts, including conspiracy to commit a felony, making a document without authority, plus two counts of abuse of office and a further two counts of giving false information to public officers.
The court heard that the former commissioner misled the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers in March 2020, falsely claiming that the disputed parcels belonged to Shaba Trustees Limited, claims he knew to be untrue.
The intention, the prosecution stated, was to prompt DCI investigators to recommend criminal charges against the rightful land owners.
Mwaita pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Kiplangat failed to appear for plea-taking prompting Senior Principal Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi to issue summons for his appearance tomorrow.
The former MP was nabbed by sleuths from DCI in Kilimani on Sunday.
