Former Interior Permanent Secretary Dave Mwangi has been charged over a Sh 350 million land fraud.
He was charged before Milimani magistrate Benmark Ekhubi with forging a title of a parcel of land measuring 1.592 hectares valued at Sh 350,000,000 the property of Hasmita Patel trading as Holloway Properties Limited.
Mwangi who was acquitted 11 months ago in the multi-million Agro leasing scandal is also charged with obtaining fraudulently Sh 12 million from Onda Concrete Limited through pretences that he was in a position to lease to the company a parcel of land.
He allegedly obtained the money on November 10, 2023.
The former PS faces five counts of conspiracy to commit a felony, forgery, obtaining money by pretences and uttering a forged document.
The property in question the court heard is situated along Mombasa Road within Nairobi county.
Mwangi denied that he forged the signature of a former commissioner of lands Sammy Mwaita on a grant LR No 20261 IR No 90202 dated November 23, 2001.
He purported the said signature on the grant had been signed and issued by Mwaita a fact he knew to be false.
He is also accused of forging the signature of another commissioner of lands Jane Kanja over the same parcel of land 23 years ago.
The former PS has denied that on December 2023, at the DCI Headquarters knowingly and fraudulently uttered to police Constable Omari Fadhila the alleged forged grant of the said land claiming it was genuine and issued by the Ministry of Lands while knowing it was false.
The last count is that of conspiring to commit a felony by allegedly defrauding the said Hasmita Patel by forging the letter of grant claiming to be a genuine document issued by the Ministry of Lands.
Mwangi was arrested on December 3, 2024 and detained in custody applied to be released on bond saying he is not a flight risk,
“I urge this court to release my client on lenient bond terms considering that the purpose of bail is to make the accused person appear in court for trials and should not be a punishment,” the defence submitted.
The defence lawyer stated that bail is a constitutional right and it should not be punitive.
State prosecutor Virginia Kariuki did not oppose the bail bond plea however she urged the court to impose stringent terms.
In a brief ruling, the magistrate noted that the prosecution did not oppose his release on bond and then proceeded to release him on a bond of 20 million with a surety of the same or alternative cash bail of Sh 5 million with two contact persons.
The matter will be mentioned on January 21, 2025.