Ex-Tigania MP Gichuge held over Sh56million land fraud involving fake property deals

Former Tigania East Member of Parliament (MP) who also previously served as the board chairman of the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) Josphat Gichuge Mwirabua has been arrested in connection with a suspected multi-million-shilling land fraud scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of more than Sh56million through bogus property transactions.

The arrest was carried out by the Land Fraud Investigations Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) following complaints from investors who accused him of orchestrating fraudulent land sales through Diamond Property Merchants (DPM) Ltd.

He is currently in custody undergoing processing and is expected to be arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts before being transferred to Kajiado, where the warrant remains active.

Investigators say the former legislator is linked to two separate schemes in which unsuspecting buyers were allegedly lured into purchasing plots and investment packages that later turned out to be either non-existent or unlawfully reallocated.

In the first case, complainants told detectives that in 2016 they purchased 50 by 100 feet plots from DPM Ltd, paying a combined Sh16.4 million. Each investor reportedly signed individual agreements and deposited funds into company accounts linked to the project.

However, the buyers later discovered that the land they believed they had acquired had been transferred to other individuals without their knowledge.

Subdivision of the property was also allegedly carried out without their consent, raising questions about the legitimacy of the transactions.

In a second and larger scheme, other investors said they were persuaded to buy parcels of land in Kajiado County, marketed as a high-value agricultural investment featuring planned greenhouse farming infrastructure.

The buyers collectively paid about Sh40.14 million after being assured of title deeds and development works.

Investigators, however, established that no greenhouse infrastructure was ever installed and the promised title deeds were never issued to the investors, despite full or partial payments being made.

The findings were forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), which approved charges of obtaining money by false pretences against the former MP.

Authorities further revealed that Mwirabua allegedly failed to honour court summons, prompting the Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kajiado to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Detectives later tracked him down and arrested him on the strength of that warrant.