Parliament ask DCI to probe grabbing of Sh10billion Meteorological Department land

The National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) now wants the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the circumstances under which a public land worth Sh10 billion was irregularly allocated to individuals who used title deeds as collateral to secure bank loans running millions of shillings.

The parliamentary committee, in a report on the audited accounts of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry tabled in the House yesterday wants those found criminally culpable to face the law.

The 21.04 hectares prime land block/209/24794/81, located in industrial area, Nairobi, belongs to the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) that is under the ministry of Forestry.

However, the land was subdivided into five parcels and titles issued in unclear circumstances, to five companies- Beacon Towers ltd, Hillbrow Properties limited, Brentwood Traders Limited, Pamba Properties limited and Varun Industrial Credit Limited.

“Within three months of tabling and adoption of this report, the DCI should initiate investigations into this matter with a view to determining possible criminal culpability on the part of all concerned officers and take appropriate action in accordance with the law,” the PAC report on the ministry’s accounts for 2018/19 financial year, reads.

PAC, a watchdog committee of the House, is chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi.

The Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) went to court in 2009 to challenge the irregular acquisition of the land by the five companies.

On August 3, 2020, the Environment and Land Court Judge E.O Obaga revoked the five title deeds after it established that they were obtained fraudulently.

Justice Obaga’s ruling was not appealed but curiously, the Ministry of Forestry has not sued the directors of the five companies for the fraudulent acquisition of the public land.

When he appeared before the committee in February this year, Environment and Forestry Principal Secretary Dr Chris Kiptoo said that the ministry was yet to institute measures to recover the land even as he said that KMD has never lost possession of the land as a single parcel.

During the meeting, Kiptoo and the Ministry’s head of legal services Annie Syombua confirmed to the committee that no criminal proceedings had been instituted against the grabbers and that they were not certain the ministry was planning to charge them.

“There is no prosecution yet,” said Kiptoo despite the court determining that the title deeds were fraudulently obtained with Syombua adding; “The matter is criminal in nature but I am not aware if there is any case in court against the owners of the said companies.”

This came even as Syombua confirmed to the committee that there is another attempt to grab the land.

She told the committee that Swing Investment limited, a local company, has sued that ministry claiming a porting of the land.

The company may have explored the loophole by the ministry’s failure to charge the owners of the five companies that had forged title deeds to claim ownership of the land.

“There is another attempt to grab the land Mr Chairman.” Syombua told the committee.

“An application was filed in court and this ministry was served the same. The matter is now with the Office of the Attorney-General,” she added in what could be an attempt by some elements of the five companies to challenge Justice Obanga’s ruling through another application in court as opposed to an appeal.

Following Justice Obaga’s ruling, President Uhuru Kenyatta issued an executive order that the land be handed over to the state department for housing for the Mukuru slum upgrading project.

The land currently houses a meteorological station with a station building house, the transmitter and generators rooms, an office for the Officer-in-Charge and staff quarters.

The court judgement tabled before PAC, shows that the private companies had the 21.6 hectares land subdivided into portions of almost equal size and allocated themselves with title deeds to boot.

Hillbrow Properties limited allocated itself 3.998 hectares with LR No. 209/13560 and Brentwood Traders limited 3.656 hectares LR No. 209/13561.

Pamba Properties limited had 2.968 hectares LR No. 209/13563, Varun Industrial Credit limited 6.259 hectares LR No. 209/13562 and Beacon Towers limited 4.731 hectares LR No. 209/13559.

The court judgment shows that Hillbrow Properties limited was incorporated on November 13, November 1995, Varun Industrial credit limited on May 11, 1995, Pamba Properties limited on January 15, 1996, Brentwood Traders limited on September 1, 1997 and Beacon Towers limited on September 10, 1997.

The court judgment further shows that at the incorporation of the five companies, there were two shareholders- Kantibhai Maganbhai before his death in December 2007, held 99 shares and Harish Ashabhai Patel who held one share.

A third director in all the five companies- Pritibala Shah, the daughter of Maganbhai, was appointed on June 15, 2007 but without any share according to the judgment.

An assessment done by the EACC, then Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), while investigating the irregular allocation, shows that unless urgent measures were taken to safeguard the land, the ministry was bound to lose it.

Therefore, the EACC advised the ministry to quickly fence the land and ensure that it is protected.