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Ksh 1.5B Land Grab: Former Nairobi PC Convicted, Awaits Sentencing
"I have convicted the first accused person of all five counts charged with and acquitted the second accused person of the two counts he is facing," the Magistrate said.
The Nairobi court has convicted a former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner (PC), of the offences of conspiracy to defraud a businessman of a parcel of land valued at Ksh 1.5 billion.
Sitting at the Milimani Chief Magistrate’s Court, Dolphina Alego convicted Davis Nathan Chelogoi and a former PC of five counts of conspiracy to defraud, fraud, abuse of office, forgery, forcible detainer, and making false documents.
“I have convicted the first accused person of all five counts charged with and acquitted the second accused person of the two counts he is facing,” the Magistrate said.
His co-accused and Assistant Deputy Director in the Lands Administration Office, Andrew Aseri Kirungu, was acquitted of the two counts of abuse of office and conspiracy to defraud.
The determination of the case comes after dragging on since 2023, following myriad applications by Chelogoi in the Magistrate Court and in the High Court seeking various reliefs, including recusal of the trial Magistrate and transfer of the file to another court.
The duo was found with a case to answer and put to the defence, where the former PC filed an application citing the trial Magistrate as biased but failed to prove the same before Justice Alexander Muteti.
While dismissing the Chelogoi’s application, Justice Muteti noted that the the reasons given were baseless without concrete evidence as per the law. He had indicated that the trial Magistrate was to recuse herself from hearing the case due to a lack of confidence based on her body language.
After hearing the application, Justice Muteti dismissed the application and directed the matter to proceed to conclusion before the trial Magistrate.
Justice Muteti maintained that “The Judicial Service Commission made the Code of Conduct and Ethics Regulations 2020pursuant to Section 47(2)(a) of the Judicial Service Act, Section 37 of the Leadership and Integrity Act 2012…”
He added that recusal of a judicial officer must be merited either due to the surrounding facts or appearance of bias. However, unnecessary recusal is an affront to the independence of the Judiciary and the decisional independence of the judges.
Chelogoi and Kirungu were charged in 2023 with conspiring to defraud businessmen Ashok Rupshi Shah and Hitenkumar Amritlal Raja of a parcel of land worth Ksh 1.5 billion. The said parcel, measuring 7.39 hectares, is situated along Lower Kabete Road.
In the fraud case, the prosecution told the court that on various dates between May 2020 and June 2021, Kirungu and Chelogoi, while at the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning in Nairobi, with intent to defraud, procured registration of the said land by falsely pretending that the land belonged to Davis Nathan Chelogoi.
Kirungu was further charged with abuse of office contrary to section 101 of the Penal Code.
The prosecution told the court that on diverse dates between December 2020 and May 2021, at the State Department of Lands and Physical Planning in Nairobi, a person employed in the Public service as an Assistant Deputy Director in the Lands Administration, for gain, fraudulently made a certificate of Title in abuse of the authority of his office, which was prejudicial to the alleged legal owners of the said land.
The Magistrate directed the former Nairobi PC to be detained in prison custody until November 2, 2026, when he will be mitigated and sentenced.
