A senior rates officer at City Hall was arrested by EACC detectives on Wednesday
for allegedly receiving Sh500,000 treated money from a businessman.
Dennis Manoti was arrested at Ankara hotel in the city centre while taking the money from Taj Mall owner Ramesh Gorasia.
Gorasia
had hired a private land investigator to probe what was happening at City Hall’s rates office, after he was denied statements for a 4.2 acre piece of land he owns on Old Mombasa Road.
“I have been paying land rates since I bought this property in 2009. But it reached a point where I was denied access to my statements. That is when I sensed all was not well,” he said.
Transfer documents seen by the Star show Gorasia bought the land from Evans Matunda
at Sh8 million, and registered it under Taj Mall Limited.
The businessman said that
after engaging the services of an investigator from the land force, it emerged that Manoti had replaced his company's name with Sigma Ltd.
The investigator, who did not want to be named as he is working on other sensitive cases, had disguised himself as Gorasia’s sweeper.
He told the Star that Manoti had informed him about receiving Sh6 million from a developer to change the name.
"He finally printed the statement after I engaged him. I realised he had only changed the name to show that the new developer was the one who had
been paying the rates. So we asked him to correct this but he demanded Sh10 million," he said
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The source said Manoti agreed to take Sh6 million after
they 'bargained' but demanded a down-payment of Sh500,000 to "start the work".
“It was at this point that we alerted the EACC and they agreed to give us the treated money," he said.
The officer from the commission, who is handling the case, told the Star that Manoti was released on a cash bail of Sh100,000 and will be charged next Tuesday.
Geoffrey Kathurima,
Nairobi county director of investigations, said:
“These people have been giving me sleepless nights. We are working very hard to get rid of corrupt officers in this county.
“This is an officer from the rates department. I thank the EACC for its work. My office will continue working closely with them."
This is not the first time City Hall officers have been arrested over corruption.
In July, county detectives arrested five people including an employee in the Lands and Planning department, a student and a former staff member, for faking county documents.
The five were reportedly part of a cartel that issues fake occupational certificates, payment receipts, building approvals and public health certificates.
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