Парламент Кении приказал провести новое расследование спорной сделки с землей в Найроби

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 3 – The National Assembly Departmental Committee on Lands has ordered the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to conduct fresh investigations into the disputed ownership and transfer of a Lenana Road property involving the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). The committee wants the DCI to establish the role played by Caleb Koskei Kipingor, who was a director of Opus Investments Limited for only 16 days during the period when L.R. No. 209/324/3 was acquired and transferred to NSSF. Lawmakers have also questioned the circumstances surrounding the conveyancing of the property, including a 68-day period between June 8 and August 15, 1989, and directed investigators to establish the roles played by advocates and other people involved in the transactions. The disputed property measures approximately 5.07 acres along Lenana Road, Nairobi. NSSF says it acquired the parcel, together with L.R. No. 209/324/2 measuring about 1.689 acres, from Opus Investments Limited under a sale agreement dated June 29, 1989. The Fund purchased L.R. No. 209/324/3 for Sh63 million and L.R. No. 209/324/2 for Sh13 million, following an indenture between Abdul Shakoor Sheikh, acting as administrator of the estate of Sheikh Fazal Ilahi, and Opus Investments Limited. According to NSSF, a conveyance for L.R. No. 209/324/3 was dated July 3, 1989, while the transfer to the Fund was effected on March 14, 1990. NSSF said it intended to develop high-end residential apartments on the property. However, the proposed development was suspended by the Head of Public Service in January 1994 over matters touching on national security and the proposed acquisition of the property by the Government. The Fund later sold the two parcels to the Permanent Secretary, Treasury, for Sh76 million under a sale agreement dated November 29, 2002, for use by the Ministry of Defence. The transfer to the Permanent Secretary, National Treasury, was registered on September 30, 2003, after which the two parcels were amalgamated and a new title issued under L.R. No. 209/16010. NSSF told the committee that L.R. No. 209/324/3 consequently ceased to exist as a separate parcel following the amalgamation. The Fund also said a caveat lodged by Walter Joe Mburu, acting as administrator of the estate of the late Rosita Mburu, was registered against L.R. No. 209/324/3 on January 15, 2009, several years after NSSF had sold the property to the Government. The renewed parliamentary scrutiny follows questions over the historical ownership and transfer of the property and concerns about the handling of previous investigations. The committee has 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 a subsequent conveyance to Opus Investments registered as Entry No. 27 on June 28, 1989. The DCI has also been asked to investigate Kipingor’s role and establish the involvement of other individuals and professionals connected to the transactions. The matter has been the subject of several court cases involving Walter Joe Mburu, who has pursued the claim as administrator of the estate of Rosita Mburu. NSSF says Rosita Mburu’s initial case, filed in 1992, concerned protection of tenancy rights rather than ownership of the property. The Fund said the case subsequently abated and that it evicted people occupying the property in November 1994. Mburu later filed a separate suit seeking a declaration that the sale and transfer of L.R. No. 209/324/3 from the estate of Sheikh Fazal Ilahi to Opus Investments and subsequently to NSSF was invalid and should be nullified. NSSF said the High Court struck out the case in 2002 after finding that the claim had been filed outside the statutory limitation period. An appeal against the decision was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in December 2015. Mburu later filed a constitutional petition challenging the transfer of the property to the Department of Defence, arguing that the transaction had been undertaken despite existing injunctions and caveats. According to NSSF, the Environment and Land Court struck out the petition in October 2022, finding that it amounted to an abuse of the court process. The Fund has also faced investigations following complaints lodged over the property. NSSF said the then Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission referred the matter to the DCI to investigate alleged fraud relating to L.R. No. 209/324/3. NSSF said it cooperated with the investigations and provided the DCI with the requested information and documentation, but that the outcome or findings had never been communicated to the Fund. The DCI had earlier informed the committee that its investigation file had been archived pending further directions from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, prompting lawmakers to call for a fresh review of the matter. NSSF has maintained that the courts have already determined the disputes surrounding the property and that it lawfully disposed of its interest in the land in 2002. The Fund has further argued that L.R. No. 209/324/3 ceased to exist as a separate parcel following its amalgamation into L.R. No. 209/16010 and that the 2009 caveat was lodged after it had already transferred its interest in the property. The fresh DCI probe will examine the 1989 transactions, the conveyancing process, the roles of Kipingor and other individuals involved, as well as the circumstances surrounding the subsequent transfer of the property to NSSF.