The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has successfully recovered public land valued at Sh104 million in Mombasa following a court ruling that declared the allocation and transfer of the parcel illegal and fraudulent.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, July 23, 2025, Justice Stephen Kibunja of the Environment and Land Court, Mombasa, ruled that parcel MN/VI/3748 was part of land originally reserved for Moi International Airport, formerly Port Reitz Aerodrome.
The land measures 1.73 acres and currently held by Academy Properties Limited.
The court found that the land was not available for allocation to private individuals.
The disputed parcel had been irregularly allocated to Agil Mahmoud, who at the time served as the Provincial Physical Planner for Coast Province.
According to court documents, the allocation was based on an unverified sketch plan rather than an approved Physical Development Plan (PDP), contrary to legal requirements.
The court noted that there was no evidence showing Mahmoud applied for the land, accepted the allotment conditions, or paid the necessary fees.
The parcel, known as MN/VI/3748, was found to have been hived off from L.R MN/VI/3888, a larger 538.76-hectare block gazetted in 1961 for the development of Port Reitz Airport under Gazette Notice No. 1161.
The airport land was later transferred to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) upon its establishment in 1992.
Evidence presented during the case revealed that in the process of resurveying Moi International Airport in 1996, it emerged that portions of the land had already been subdivided irregularly in 1992, with one such portion ending up under the name of Mahmoud.
He subsequently purported to transfer it to Academy Properties Limited.
In his judgment, Justice Kibunja stated, “The allocation to the 1st defendant by the 3rd defendant and subsequent issuance of the Certificate of Lease to the 1st defendant of the land comprised in MN/VI/3748 was irregular, fraudulent, illegal, and consequently null and void.”
The court also held that any transfer of the land from Mahmoud to Academy Properties Limited was invalid, since the initial title was not lawfully obtained.
“An allotment letter is incapable of conferring interest in land, being nothing more than an offer awaiting the fulfillment of conditions stipulated therein,” the judge noted, citing Supreme Court precedent.
He added that Mahmoud could not have transferred good title because he did not possess it in the first place.
Justice Kibunja ordered the cancellation of the certificate of lease and all related entries in the land registry.
He issued a permanent injunction against the 1st and 2nd defendants from dealing with the land in any way other than transferring or surrendering it to the Government of Kenya.
The court also awarded costs to the EACC, acknowledging that the suit had been prosecuted in the public interest.
The initial suit had been filed on February 13, 2009, by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), the predecessor to EACC.
Also named in the suit was the then Commissioner of Lands, who was accused of abusing his office and enabling the fraudulent allocation.
The EACC said it is still pursuing the recovery of 12 other parcels of land excised from Moi International Airport and allocated irregularly.
These parcels, valued at over Sh2.5 billion, are the subject of ongoing court proceedings.
