•The DCI officer in charge of Kilifi county said they are investigating how the Italian obtained ownership of the four parcels of land.
Image: ALPHONCE GARI
DCI in Kilifi county are probing an Italian national allegedly involved in fraud by forging documents to obtain ownership documents of multi-million shilling prime beach property at Kivulini in Malindi subcounty.
The Italian, Fabio Amfuzo, reportedly bought one parcel of land from a Kenyan married to an Italian but went ahead to get land ownership documents of four other parcels of land under unclear circumstances.
Already Amfuzo was grilled by the detectives at the Kilifi DCI Headquarters after he was summoned to shed light on the matter.
Kilifi county DCI Boss Noah Katumo confirmed they were investigating the Italian national over allegations of fraud.
He said they issued summons since September last year but his lawyers were always promising to come with him, in vain.
Katumo said on Wednesday, the Italian appeared to DCI officers in Malindi after a final summon after which he and his lawyer went to Kilifi DCI headquarters.
Image: ALPHONCE GARI
"It's true we are investigating him over fraud involving a prime land property ownership row. We will be updating you after we complete the investigations," he said.
Journalists saw the Italian with his lawyer both in Malindi DCI offices and Kilifi DCI offices.
The County DCI officer said they were not treating him as suspect yet until their investigation is complete when they recommend prosecution to the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.
The complainant in the case Valentine Hinzano Ponda, a resident of Malindi who was married to an Italian woman (deceased), said they bought 28.1 acres at Kivulini in 1984.They built the Kivulini Village Beach Hotel.
Speaking after showing journalists the disputed properties, Ponda said they subdivided the land into 42 plots some of which they sold and constructed the resort which they operated and later sold after the market began declining.
So far, he said 22 plots have disputes but currently they are following up on four which the Italian claimed he bought legally but which, according to him, were acquired fraudulently through illegal transfers of documents.
“I only sold one plot to Fabio but not the other four parcels, now he claims to have bought five plots which is not true that’s why I reported the matter to the DCI after establishing that names of ownership of the land I owned were changed,” he said.
Some of the document he showed to journalists indicated that in plot number 42 which is approximately 0.6037 ha the proprietors' names were changed from Kivulini Village Beach Hotel Limited, Valentine Hinzano Ponda and Molino Giuseppina to Anfusio Fabio.
The land lease document showed the title deed was issued on December 18, 1995, under the names of Ponda and Giuseppina but their names were cancelled and replaced with that of Fabio.
In parcel number 33 the lease certificate was also changed from Kivulini Beach Hotel Limited, a company owned by Ponda and his deceased wife to Fabio. Plot 33 measures 0.1743 acres.
There was also a similar cancellation of plot number 34 which measures 0.1815ha where the name of Kivulini Village Beach Hotel limited was changed to Fabio.
Ponda said they closed their hotel in 1995 and sold it to concentrate on distribution business in Malindi town. His wife died in 2016.
He said he became suspicious after some individuals begun obtaining documents and claiming ownership of some of his land forcing him to do a search at the Kilifi lands registry where he found his names had been cancelled in his land ownership documents.
“He claims he has five plots here but what I know he only bought one, we did not enter into an agreement with the other four,” he said.
Each of the plots that Fabio claims to own own, he said, are worth more than 30 million.
He called on the DCI to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure justice prevails.
“The plots which have disputes here are worth hundreds of millions but the four plots are worth Sh30 million each,” he said.
Part of the land still has buildings while other plots are in bushy areas after being abandoned for years.
(Edited by V. Graham)