The anti-graft agency has secured separate court decisions allowing it to reclaim two pieces of prime public land that had been transferred illegally.<\/p>\n
One of the contentious pieces of land in Kisumu had been transferred to former Alego MP Peter Oloo Aringo, while the other one in Mombasa was transferred to a private tour company.<\/p>\n
In its submission before the courts, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) claimed the parcels were public property that illegally changed hands and status to private ownership.In the first case that was filed before the Environment and Land Court in Kisumu, the EACC had sought for the nullification of a lease issued to Mr Aringo that granted him ownership of the contested parcel.<\/p>\n
The case listed four respondents, namely Aringo, Transnational Bank, Vyatu Ltd and former Commissioner of Lands Wilson Gachanja.According to court records, Mr Gachanja illegally transferred the land to Aringo and issued him with the lease in 1990.In 1991, Aringo used the parcel to obtain a loan from Transnational Bank, which later sold the land to Vyatu Ltd after Aringo defaulted.<\/p>\n
During the course of the hearing, four witnesses testified that the land had been transferred illegally.Wilson Ojonjo, a surveyor, presented a map that showed the land belonged to Kenya Railways.<\/p>\n
However, the defendants denied obtaining the land fraudulently. Aringo asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds\u00a0it was time-barred.But Justice Antony Ombwayo ruled that the land had been transferred illegally. \u201cIt is declared that the issuance of a lease by the fourth defendant (Gachanja) to the first respondent (Aringo) is null and void.\u201dSeparately, Justice Sila Munyao cancelled the transfer of government land to private hands on grounds the process was fraudulent.This followed testimonies by witnesses. According to records, the piece of land situated in Bamburi was transferred to Lekyo Tours Ltd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The anti-graft agency has secured separate court decisions allowing it to reclaim two pieces of prime public land that had been transferred illegally. One of the contentious pieces of land in Kisumu had been transferred to former Alego MP Peter Oloo Aringo, while the other one in Mombasa was transferred to a private tour company. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[396,894,2142],"class_list":{"0":"post-3956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"tag-eacc","12":"tag-peter-oloo-aringo"},"yoast_head":"\n