[Source: Daily Nation, by Rushdie Oudia]
A court on Thursday ordered the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to recover land belonging to Kisumu Law Courts that was illegally acquired by former chief magistrate Charles Oloo Kanyangi who later sold it.
High Court Judge Justice Boaz Olao said the defendants did not produce any evidence to absolve them of fraud claims.
Transfer of the 1.884-acre land worth Sh200 million took place in 1994 when Mr Wilson Gachanja was Commissioner of Lands.
The court heard that in that year, following a no objection letter on the land written by Mr Kanyangi on behalf of the Judiciary, Mr Gachanja allocated the judicial officer part of the land and went ahead to execute a 99-year lease in his favour.
Mr Kanyangi then sold the land to businessman Aashish Vallabhdas Jethwa, and according to Justice Olao, he did so knowing it was public land occupied by a functional court.
Mr Jethwa also sold it to Mr Lalji Karsan Ramji Rabadia, who used the title deed as collateral for a loan from Bank of Baroda Kenya Limited. They were the defendants in the case alongside Mayhood Limited.
The judge said that as a judicial officer in charge of Kisumu Law Courts, Mr Kanyangi should have referred the officers from the provincial planning offices to the Registrar of the Judiciary who was the custodian of the property.
[Full article: Daily Nation, by Rushdie Oudia]
