EACC to pursue recovery of Ksh.1.5B from illegal sale of Ruaraka public land

This comes after the Court of Appeal, on June 3, upheld a judgment earlier made by the Environment and Land Court (ELC), which found that the Ksh.1.5 billion paid to acquire the 13.5-acre plot by the National Land Commission (NLC) was unlawful because the land had already been surrendered to the Government.

"Consequently, the payment of Ksh.1.5 billion to the appellants was illegal, null and void. It was money paid under a mistake both in law and fact," Justices W. Karanja, F. Tuiyott and W. Korir stated.

EACC said subsequent investigations showed that the amount was paid to Afrison Export Import Limited and Huelands Limited through Whispering Palms Estate Limited.

The companies had sought to have the Court of Appeal declare their title to L.R. No. 7879/4 as an indefeasible private title, and find that the portions occupied by the two schools had never been surrendered to the Government.

They also wanted the court to rule that the purchase payment did not amount to a loss of public funds and compel the NLC to pay the outstanding compensation balance of Ksh.1.769 billion.

EACC now seeks to recover the amount, further intimating that investigations to establish criminal culpability of public officials and other individuals involved in the deal are complete.

"Following the determination of the appeal, the Commission has resumed action on the matter and will resubmit the inquiry file to DPP. Those found culpable will be prosecuted in accordance with the law," the Commission said in a statement on Monday.

It has also advised the Ministry of Education and NLC to facilitate the processing and issuance of title documents for the land to safeguard the schools' occupation of the land.