A Nairobi businessman testifying in a case in which Taj Mall owner Rameshchandra Govind Gorasia is charged with forging a title deed has told a trial court that the Ministry of Lands confirmed to him that he owns the plot in question.
Jayesh Patel a director of Siesta Investments Ltd who claims to be the owner of the plot said that they met with Govind who is charged with four counts of forgery arising from his counterclaim to the plot, at the accused person’s office at Taj Towers in Upper-Hill area,Nairobi County, to clear the air over the ownership of the property in Embakasi, Nairobi county.
“On arrival we exchanged the title deeds of the land so as to find out how the land had two title deeds,” Patel told a trial magistrate Francis Andayi yesterday.
He said that after exchanging the documents he wrote a letter to the commissioner of Lands and director of survey to clarify whose title deed was genuine.
“I received a letter from the Ministry of Lands which indicated that LR 20273/IR 141915/1,the plot in dispute was registered on January 20 2013 in the name of Siesta Ltd, and the title held by the accused person IR 63978 registered in the name of Evans Obong’o Otunda was not issued from their office,”the witness said.
He further said that after receiving the response he contacted the accused person but to date he has not give anything to show that he owns the plot.
He however said that instead the accused informed him that he “had bought the land from somebody else.”
“Earlier in the year 2013 after the title was issue to Siesta, we went to the site since we had plans to construct warehouses on the parcel of land but were confronted by a group of young men who were protecting the land who stopped us,” the witness said.
