Investigations have zeroed in on National Lands Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri over the controversial payment of Sh1.5 billion compensation for the controversial Ruaraka land.
The National Assembly committee on land has recommended that Swazuri be investigated and possibly prosecuted even as the EACC yesterday confirmed it has separately recommended the prosecution of 25 officials over the saga after concluding its investigations.
They include senior government officials and businessmen implicated in the controversial transaction.
"We have a watertight case against the persons," EACC spokesman Yassin Amara said, declining to reveal their identities.
The National Assembly Lands committee report adopted yesterday directs Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti to investigate Swazuri and other officers for personal responsibility in the payment.
The committee observed that NLC failed to conduct public participation that should have included Ruaraka High School and Drive Inn Primary Schools that occupy the 13.7 acres.
"NLC failed to secure the interests of the government on the land in terms of ensuring that the title documentation in respect of the land being acquired were delivered to the Registrar and registered," the report reads in part.
The committee also wants Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji to prosecute all public officers implicated in any corrupt dealings in the compulsory acquisition of the land.
"Following conclusion of investigations by the Directorate of Criminal of Investigations, the Director of Public Prosecution should prosecute any public officer or person who may be implicated or suspected as having engaged in any corrupt and illegal activities in the compulsory acquisition of the land in question," it reads.
Committee chair and Kitui South MP Rachael Nyamai confirmed to the Star that they had adopted the report which she will table in the House soon.
"We have written a good report and we approved it this morning. I will table it to the House soon," Nyamai said.
The EACC has been investigating how the government paid billions to two firms — Afrison Import Export Ltd and Huelands Ltd — for compulsory acquisition of the the land.
Whispering Palms Estate Ltd — a nominee of Afrison and Huelands — was on January 29 paid Sh1.5 billion by the National Lands Commission as compensation for the land also claimed by the two schools, built in 1984 and 1987 respectively.
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The Nairobi county government had told the committee that the land belongs to the two schools while the Ministry of Lands said it belongs to the public.
Nyamai said the committee had concluded that the land belongs to the public and ordered that Sh1.5 billion already paid out to Whispering Palms Estate Ltd be refunded to the government.
The MP said the committee had also made far-reaching recommendations including government officials being probed with a view to prosecuting them for defrauding the state.
Once tabled, the House can amend the report, adopt it the way it is, modify or reject it altogether.
The private firms have mounted a vigorous claim over the parcel of land, demanding a further Sh1.7 billion as balance from the government for the purchase sum of Sh3.2 billion.
When he appeared before the committee last month, managing director Francis Mburu told MPs he was ready to refund money already paid to him in exchange for his land.
He cited frustration by State agencies in seeking compensation for the land, saying he could refund the Sh1.5 billion he was paid and proceed to demolish all the structures on the land, including Ruaraka Secondary and Drive-In Primary school.
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In the alternative, he month told the Senate committee probing the land saga last month, he would demand an additional Sh6 billion in rent and interest.
"I can refund the Sh1.5 billion and get back my land. The land is registered in my name, not in the schools’ name. I have never gone to close or demand money from those schools all these years," Mburu said.
"I have been waiting for 40 years to be compensated for my land. It is an insult. This is land registered under my name. I have orders to demolish all the illegal structures and buildings including the two schools," Mburu told the Senate committee.
The EACC had already stopped the National Land Commission from paying the two firms the remaining Sh1.7 billion as compensation.
The anti-graft agency had expanded its probe beyond the Ruaraka school land saga to include the Sh4.8 billion compensation to the same company for land acquired for the expansion of Outer Ring Road and General Service Unit [GSU].
EACC was investigating whether the survey map for the GSU land was altered to overpay Afrison Import Export Ltd and Huelands Ltd in the deal in which the firms have since been paid Sh2.4 billion.
The agency also probed whether the Kenya Urban Roads Authority paid Sh1.4 billion for land that had already been paid for by GSU.
In the acquisition of houses by the Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government for use by GSU officers, the agency is probing suspected over-payment to the two firms.
The Government has paid Sh2.4 billion for the 36 acres but the title has not been issued or any entries for Government interest made on the title deed.
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