• 35 children of former influential MP engaged in succession tussle over vast estate. They include Keiyo North MP Dr James Murgor, who is the eldest child.
• Daughters, led by Enid Murgor, complained some family members had been sidelined in fair sharing the estate, though they have a right to benefit.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Documents used to share out the Sh2 billion state of former MP William Murgor may have been forged, the Eldoret High Court has been told.
Thirty-five children of former influential MP are engaged in a succession tussle in court over the vast estate.
Justice Hellen Omondi is handling the case. She has been promoted to the Court of Appeal.
Murgor, who was MP for Kerio Central, died on September 28, 2006, leaving behind five widows and children. The widows are Soti Murgor, Rosa Kimoi Murgor, Rosaline Murgor, Anne Murgor and Philemona Murgor.
His daughters, led by Enid Murgor, filed a case at the High Court complaining some family members had been sidelined in the sharing of the estate, yet they had a right to benefit.
A document examination expert was the last to testify on Friday last week. He was questioned about the validity of the signed transfer documents used to apportion the estate.
Emmanuel Kenga Karisa testified that signatures on some transfer documents were different. The documents described how beneficiaries were to share the estate.
Karisa retired as a commissioner of police attached to DCI six years ago. He is a private documents examiner based at Wilson Airport
“I have 30 years experience having studied in Israel and France and I have carried out investigations related to forged documents in various parts of the country and globally while serving at CID before I retired in 2015,” he said.
Karisa said after careful examination, he found that some of them were forged. He was asked to examine the documents by one of the lawyers.
Keiyo North MP James Murgor is the eldest in the family and was the first to testify in the case last year. He was cross-examined by lawyer Phillip Murgor, who is representing Enid and the other aggrieved parties.
Some siblings accuse the MP of taking over a larger share of the estate than he was due.
Phillip had told the court the MP used a fake will to distribute the assets of the deceased, giving himself a lion's share.
“Your Honour, the will purportedly left behind by the deceased has been examined and proved to be fake and a forgery and hence it cannot be relied on at all,” Phillip said.
The MP was taken to task during the cross-examination to explain the authenticity of the purported will that he says was genuine.
But while testifying, Karisa said his examination of the documents proved that they were forged.
The MP has been sued by his sisters and step-siblings for allegedly failing to equitably share their father’s vast estate.
The case was filed by Enid Murgor who is based in the US and has accused her elder brother of discriminating against her and other siblings in fair distribution.
Lawyer Murgor has accused the MP of apportioning himself the lion’s share of estate at the expense of the rest of the beneficiaries.
The MP said the will left by his father was genuine and had been penned by the deceased.
He also denied that as the eldest son he was head of the family. He caused laughter when he said he was only the head of his own family that includes his children, wife and mother.
“I have never been head of my father’s family at any time. My father was the head of his own family,” the MP said.
The legislator has in the past been chairing family meetings as the eldest son at his Kapkoi farm in Keiyo North. They discussed how the estate would be shared.
He said that did not mean he was head of the family.
Justice Omondi last year had advised the family to sort out the dispute out of court through mediation. The process failed and the family returned to court.
Justice Omondi directed that the case be heard on November 1 when she will set the date for judgment after all key witnesses testified.
(Edited by V. Graham)