Crucial evidence that prosecutors were to rely on in a case where National Land Commission Chairman Muhamad Swazuri, former Kenya Railways managing director Athanas Maina and 13 others are charged with irregular compensation for land has gone missing.
A computer containing the crucial documents disappeared from NLC offices on Sunday, just a day before Sh 7.2 billion for the compensation of land being acquired for the Nairobi-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway project was disbursed.
The computer is believed to hold crucial data connected to the case in which Prof Swazuri and the others are accused of irregularly compensating land owners for the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR phase, which was completed in June last year.
Prof Swazuri was allowed to resume work by the courts despite fears by the prosecution that letting him back to work could jeopardise the case.
Prof Swazuri was also required to give an undertaking not to interfere with the records and documents relevant to the case as that would lead to automatic cancellation of his bond.
This is the second high-profile corruption case in recent months whose documents have gone missing, after those in the Kenya Power faulty transformers case disappeared.
A source told the Nation Monday that data in the computer, housed at the NLC’s Department of Valuation and Taxation, had no backup, meaning the new developments would effectively throw verification of the compensation payments in limbo.
Detectives from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said they were yet to confirm whether some of the missing records relate to investigations at the NLC.
As detectives try to crack the case, the NLC is staring at a fresh storm as a lobby group seeks to have Parliament send home its four commissioners over alleged mismanagement and lack of accountability.
Land Sector Non-State Actors filed a petition before the National Assembly on Friday asking that Prof Swazuri, his deputy Abigail Mbagaya, Mr Isaiah Lenacharu and Mr Abdulkadir Adan Khalif be sent home following a number of issues surrounding compensation, issuance of title deeds, and unconventional changes in committees that aided the loss of millions in taxpayers’ funds.
The developments come barely a month after Prof Swazuri resumed his duties at NLC, after the High Court dismissed an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions to bar him from resuming office pending the outcome of the criminal case.
The lobby says some of the compensations include over Sh200 million paid out to two firms — Dahase Investments and Olomotit Estate Limited — Sh400 million for a piece of land along the Eastern Bypass, and Sh1.5 billion in the Ruaraka land saga.
NLC has been on the spot over its failure to disclose beneficiaries of a Sh 2.8 billion compensation payout in the year to June 2016. Already, its embattled chairman and other officials have been charged in court with irregularly paying out Sh 221.3 million in standard gauge railway (SGR) land compensation.
Also charged are the commission’s chief executive Chavangi Aziz Tom, two senior directors — Ms Salome Munubi (Valuation and taxation) and Mr Francis Mugo (Finance) — and Ms Gladys Mwikali Muyanga, a land registrar.
[Article source: Daily Nation, by Kennedy Kimanthi and Brian Wasuna]
