A city land surveyor was on Tuesday, March 11 charged with defrauding the Zambian High Commission embassy of its land situated along Ngong Road in Nairobi county worth over Ksh1.5 billion.
Appearing before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina, the surveyor Gilbert Oketch Oyoo denied the charges of conspiracy to defraud and forgery levelled against him by the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions.
Oyoo presented himself in court after going into hiding following the prosecution of his co-accused persons Neeraj Jayatilal Kalaiya and James Kulali Onunga on March 7, 2023.
The three suspects are accused of forging documents to grab Zambian embassy land valued at Ksh1.5 billion.
The suspects are alleged to have colluded with senior officials at the Ministry of Lands and police.
According to the charge, Oyoo co-accused persons face charges of conspiracy to defraud, forgery of deed plans, obtaining registration of land by false pretense, forcible entry to a private land and resisting arrest.
Neeraj and Kulali are also accused of stealing a motor vehicle, Toyota Prado Registration 54CD8K valued at USD 59,184,53 the property belonging to the Zambian High Commissioner to Kenya on October 1, 2021.
“On unknown dates and place within the Republic of Kenya, Oyoo jointly with others not before court, with intent to defraud zambian High Commission of their land LR 1/9B situated along Ngong Road within Nairobi County, forged a Beacon Certificate dated December 23, 2017, purporting it to be a genuine beacon certificate on the land, a fact you knew to be false,” the court papers read in part.
Further, the surveyor denied that on June 18, 2018 at Survey of Kenya within Nairobi county together with his co-accused person Neeraj with intent to defraud the High Commission its land forged a Deed Plan number 424088.
Oyoo, Neeraj and Kulali were arrested by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives from Capitol Hill Police Station early last month and granted a police cash bail after Zambian High Commission raised the matter with the Kenyan Government vide a letter dated October 1, 2021 after the suspects evicted employees, who had been stationed there to guard the land.
According to investigations conducted by the DCI, it is said that the trio used forged court eviction orders with the assistance of senior officers from Kilimani Police Station to evict Zambian officials residing on the land.
On the spot are senior Kilimani officers for allowing the suspects to evict employees of the Zambian High Commission using fake documents.
Land acquired in 1965
The land, which had been reserved as the residence of the Zambian Deputy High Commissioner in Kilimani, was allocated to the Zambian government on June 2, 1965.
The land had been utilised as residence for the Zambian Deputy High Commissioner until 2010 when the then occupant, Brenda Mutesha vacated the premises because it was dilapidated.
She then appointed Duncan Cheruiyot to guard the land.
“The mission placed a sign post at the main gate reading …this property belongs to the Zambian High Commission and is not for sale and the same was written on the perimeter wall,” Cheruiyot, who is a key witness in the matter, told investigators.
Further investigations reveal that, things started taking a downturn on September 16,2021 when Jayatilal allegedly fraudulently used the name of his father, Jayantilal Naranji Kalaiya, who had ironically passed on July 24, 1999 to acquire an allotment letter ref.43847/IV dated July 12, 1995 for land LR.1/9B measuring 0.75 hectares at a premium of Sh231,870 which he backdated.
After forging the necessary papers, Jay atilal presented himself as the registered owner of the land by the virtue of a certificate of title deed IR235130 LR. 1/1392 of September 2021 and a lease IR 235130 of September 17, 2020.
“On September 31, the intruder, Jayantilal, while in company of officers from Kilimani Police Station ejected the caretaker in pretense of a court order E351/2021 of September 27, 2021 issued by Milimani Commercial Court reflecting the mission care taker as the respondent,” DCI investigations report states.
The police also claim that investigations further disclosed that all the documents used in the transaction of the land were fake.
The court has released Oyoo on Ksh 1 million bond.
