- EACC filed the suit in 2018 seeking to reposes the land located next to the Pyrethrum headquarters.
- The land is said to have been grabbed by Alexander Sitieney with the approval of former commissioner of lands Wilson Gachanja in 1998.
Image: FILE
The Ethics and anti-corruption commission (EACC) has yet again registered another milestone in its war against graft, this time winning a case it filed against a former Aide De camp of late President Daniel Moi.
The 1.7-acre land belonging to the pyrethrum processing company estimated to be worth Sh150 million is said to have been grabbed by Alexander Sitieney with the approval of former commissioner of lands Wilson Gachanja in 1998.
In a ruling delivered on March 10 by Justice Antony Ombyayo of the Nakuru Environment and Land Court, it was established that Sitieney illegally and irregularly procured a lease over the property for private purposes.
EACC filed the suit in 2018 seeking to reposes the land located next to the Pyrethrum headquarters and factory situated at land parcel Nakuru Municipality Block 8/11.
The said lease, the court ruled, was purportedly registered at the District Land Registry in Nakuru on March 29, 1998, and a certificate of the lease was issued to him on the same day, “without the knowledge or consent of the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya, the registered owner of the land.”
Gachanja was also accused of illegally issuing the lease yet he knew it had been reserved for public use.
“A declaration that the certificate of Lease held and /or registered in favour of Alexander Kipngetich Sitieney in respect to Nakuru Municipality Block 8/30 was irregularly and fraudulently acquired, and the same is invalid, null and void,” read the orders in part.
It further states, “An order of permanent injunction against Alexander Kipngetich Sitieney, his agents, servants or assigns restraining them from leasing, transferring, charging, taking possession, or in any other manner however from dealing with Nakuru Municipality Block 8/30 other that by transfer, delivery up or surrender of the same to the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya.”
The victory by EACC comes just a month after it won a case it filed in a Mombasa court seeking to reclaim a Sh70 million stolen government house at Nyali.
In the case filed by the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Corruption (KACC) in 2009, two private companies and the then Commissioner of Lands had been sued.
The said parcel of land belonged to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority/Government of Kenya.