EACC Recovers Ksh.9.45M in Cemetery Fraud Probe
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has recovered Ksh.9.45 million from a private company that is believed to have acquired the funds fraudulently in 2008 during the purchase of public cemetery land by the defunct Nairobi City Council.
The recovered sum represents a portion of the Ksh.283 million that the government disbursed to the then-Nairobi City Town Clerk as payment for the purchase of land for use as a public cemetery.
EACC investigations revealed that City County officials conspired with other individuals to purchase land worth Ksh.110 million and then divided the remaining Ksh.173 million among themselves and associated private companies.
“Naen Rech Limited received 9,450,000 Kenyan shillings (KSH) from the total amount shared. This is one of nine lawsuits filed by the EACC to recover a total of Ksh.173 million fraudulently acquired in the purchase of public cemetery land by the now-defunct City Council of Nairobi, according to the EACC.
“The recovery lawsuits against the other beneficiaries are in various stages of hearing at the High Court.”
In 2012, EACC filed a lawsuit against Naen Rech Limited and its director Maina Chege, alleging that the defendants illegally obtained the aforementioned cash.
In its lawsuit, EACC argued that the land offered by Naen Rech Limited did not meet the tender document’s requirements for cemetery-suitable soil.
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“The land that Naen Rech Limited was selling for use as a public cemetery had 2 12 feet of cotton soil and 2 12 feet of rocks. The soil depth did not reach a minimum of 1.8 meters, and thus did not meet the requirement in the tender document for a depth of 1.8 meters (6 feet),” the court heard.
EACC investigations determined that the land offered by Naen Rech did not belong to the private company, with the anti-corruption watchdog adding that a city law firm, Alphonse Mutinda Advocates, forged a letter informing the City Council that the registered owner of the land, Henry Kilonzo, had appointed it as its agent to bid on the tender.
“The second fraud was the forgery of a purported sale agreement between Henry Kilonzo, the registered owner of the land, and the City Council of Nairobi,” stated EACC.
“On December 19, 2008, Naen Rech Limited and Henry Kilonzi, the true owner of the land, entered into a purchase agreement for the sale of 120 acres of cemetery land at a purchase price of Ksh 110,000,000,”
In her judgment, Justice Esther Maina ordered the defendants to pay the EACC Ksh. 9.45 million plus costs and interest from the date the EACC received the funds in 2012 until the date of payment.
“The High Court has agreed with EACC that the defendants were liable for illicit enrichment because they were not entitled to the funds they received,” stated EACC.
EACC Recovers Ksh.9.45M in Cemetery Fraud Probe
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