Four suspects belonging to a Nairobi-based self –help group (Sowesava) were on Friday arraigned in court over claims of being involved in a Sh1 billion land fraud.
The four; former Kayole chief Alexander Hoops, Patrobas Awino, Peter Gitau and Peter Njoroge were charged with forging the title deed of a Donholm Estate parcel of land, its lease and an allotment letter.
According to the investigators, the arrest and subsequent arraignment of the four followed complaints filed at DCI's Land Fraud Investigations Unit in 2018.
After investigations, the DCI discovered that an entity named Gidjoy Co. Ltd bought the land from Continental Ltd and later legally transferred the ownership of the land to its name.
However, the four suspects through their self-help group maintained that Continental Ltd surrendered the parcel to the Nairobi County Government, upon which they were issued with an allotment letter and processed a title deed.
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Police at a past operation. [Photo: Courtesy]
“The self-help group had hence gone ahead to subdivide the parcel into 100 portions, which they were in the process of selling to unsuspecting members of the public when detectives stepped in.
“Meticulous investigations revealed that both the allotment letter and the mother title deed presented by Sowesava had been forged, leading to the arrest of four of its officials in 2019. However, the four filed an injunction before the High Court, which was heard and upon determination, a ruling was made that the suspects plead to their charges on August 5, 2021,” DCI said in a statement.
On Friday August 5, 2021, the suspects appeared before Chief magistrate Martha Mutuku where they were each fined Sh2 million bond or a cash bail of Sh1 million.
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