Former Lands Commissioner and ex-Baringo Central Member of Parliament Sammy Silas Komen Mwaita was Monday arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts, where he faced multiple charges related to a land fraud scheme involving property worth Sh150 million.
Mwaita was charged with unlawfully creating two title deeds with the intent to defraud the rightful owners of two prime parcels of land.
Mwaita’s co-accused, Kiplangat, failed to appear for plea-taking, prompting Senior Principal Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi to issue a summons for his appearance on Tuesday.
Mwaita pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on a bond of Sh10 million or an alternative cash bail of Sh2 million, with two sureties.
Prosecution told court Mwaita and his co-accused, Brian Kiptoo Kiplangat, conspired on or before March 30, 2001 to fraudulently generate title documents for Grant Title Land Reference No. 209/9968 IR No. 85847 without legal authority.
The forged documents were intended to defraud Rose Njoki King’au of land designated as Plot No. “A”.
Prosecution further revealed that Mwaita, while serving in public office, fraudulently registered both Plot “A” and an adjacent parcel identified as Plot “B”, without the consent or knowledge of their respective owners, Rose Njoki King’au and Micugu Wagatharia an act that constituted abuse of office.
In addition to the fraud charges, Mwaita faced several other counts, including conspiracy to commit a felony, making a document without authority, plus two counts of abuse of office and a further two counts of giving false information to public officers.
The court heard that Mwaita misled the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers in March 2020, falsely claiming that the disputed parcels belonged to S HABA TRUSTEES LIMITED claims he knew to be untrue.
The intention, Prosecution stated, was to prompt DCI investigators to recommend criminal charges against the rightful land owners.
Mwita was arrested Sunday in Kilimani area and spent the night in custody ahead of his arraignment.
The Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission is also investigating allegations of abuse of office, conflict of interest and fraudulent acquisition of public property arising from transactions he authorized during his tenure of office as a Commissioner of Lands.
One of the transactions entails the alleged allocation of public land to his brother located in Nakuru where the Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA) is currently constructing its regional headquarters.
To recover and revert the land back to the government, the Commission has since sued the Mwaitas, together with the Chief Land Registrar and obtained injunction orders prohibiting any dealings on the land pending the hearing and determination of the matter.
On November 21, 2022, Justice Antony Ombwayo of the Nakuru Environment and Land Court issued an order of injunction sought by EACC restraining Hillary Kipkorir Mwaita, his servants, employees and/or agents or any other person from alienating, selling, advertising for sale, transferring, charging, developing, leasing, sub-dividing, wasting, entering and remaining upon, or in any other way dealing with the parcel of land described as LR. No. Nakuru Municipality Block 20/232 pending the determination of the application.
Contemporaneous with filing the recovery suit, EACC had filed an application for the temporary injunction orders under a Certificate of Urgency to preserve the property as the hearing of the case continues.
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