The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has recovered an executive residential property worth Sh52 million at Nyali estate in Mombasa County.
The property, a four bedroom bungalow and a servant quarter, had been grabbed from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) in 2000.
The recovery followed the filing of a civil suit at the Mombasa Environment and Land Court in 2009 which sought to recover and return the property to the government.
In the suit, EACC sued four entities including a couple, a company they own and the Commissioner of Lands.
They include Luka Kimutai (1st defendant), Sally Jepkpoech Cheptoo- (2nd defendant), Toro Estates Ltd (3rd defendant) and then Commissioner of Lands Sammy Silas Komen Mwaita (4th defendant).
Investigations established that the land parcel had been set aside for the KCAA before it was fraudulently allocated to Kimutai by Mwaita in 2000.
The defendant then transferred the property to his Toro Estate, a company co-owns with his wife, the second defendant.
On May 9, 2023, Lady Justice Nelly Matheka of the Mombasa Environment and Land Court delivered the judgment faulting Mwaita for breaching public trust by fraudulently transferring public land entrusted under his care to private persons.
Matheka delivered her ruling in favour of EACC including a declaration that the allocation of the property to Kimutai, by Mwaita and subsequent issuance of lease was irregular, fraudulent and illegal and consequently null and void.
She also granted an order for rectification on the land register by cancellation of title and all entries made on the land register in favour of Kimutai and subsequent transfer to the company he owns with his wife namely Toro Estates Ltd, in respect of land reference MN/1/2414.
The defendants were also directed to pay the costs of the suit awarded to the Commission.
