Members of the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Lands have raised concerns over what they described as conflicting, inconclusive and inadequate information contained in a Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) report on the ownership of a disputed property along Lenana Road, Nairobi.
The Committee, chaired by Joash Nyamoko, directed the DCI to submit a supplementary report after members raised questions over gaps and inconsistencies in its account of transactions involving L.R. No. 209/324/3.
The MPs particularly questioned the figures presented in relation to transactions involving Opus Investments Limited and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
Gideon Ochanda said the information provided by the DCI contained contradictions that needed to be clarified.
Records presented to the Committee indicated that on July 3, 1989, Opus Investments Limited conveyed the property to the NSSF Board of Trustees for Sh63 million. The NSSF subsequently sold the property to the Department of Defence in 2002 for the same consideration.
“We have conflicting information, and the figures being presented do not add up. We need to know which figures are actually correct,” Ochanda said.
The Committee also questioned why the DCI appeared to focus its findings on Abdul Shakoor Sheikh, whom investigators said had since fled to India, despite other individuals and transactions connected to the property requiring further investigation.
Paul Katana questioned the DCI’s findings regarding the history of the property, noting that investigators had established that it was sold in 1968 to Rosita Chettyar, the late wife of complainant Dave Joe Walter Mburu, by Abdul Shakoor.
“If the DCI has established that the land was sold to Rosita Chettyar in 1968, what is the way forward, what is the recommendation? What happens to Mburu and his quest for justice?” Katana posed.
Dekow Barrow described the DCI report as “inconclusive and shallow”, arguing that it appeared to largely comprise documents obtained from different government departments rather than the findings of a comprehensive investigation.
“There are so many persons of interest for the institution to just zero down on one who got away. More needs to be done,” Barrow said.
Rachel Nyamai supported the concerns raised by her colleagues, observing that the complainant, Mburu, is an elderly man whose presentation before the Committee was, in her view, more coherent than the report submitted by the investigators.
The Committee subsequently directed the DCI to undertake further investigations into the disputed transactions and provide a comprehensive supplementary report.
Investigators were specifically directed to examine the 68-day conveyancing period between June 8 and August 15, 1989, and establish the roles played by advocates and other individuals involved in the transactions.
The DCI was also asked to investigate the role of Caleb Koskei Kipingor, who served as a director of Opus Investments for only 16 days during the period when the property was purchased and subsequently sold to NSSF.
The Committee further directed the DCI to obtain from the Judiciary the contents of a High Court order registered as Entry No. 21 on December 15, 1988, and establish its connection to the conveyance to Opus Investments registered as Entry No. 27 on June 28, 1989.
A DCI representative informed the Committee that the investigation file had been archived pending further directions from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
The officers, however, assured the MPs that following the Committee’s renewed interest in the matter, the case would undergo a thorough review before the DCI returns to respond to further questions.
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