Judge stops Tobiko from pursuing siblings in land tussle

The High Court has stopped the prosecution of a man and his sister accused of fraudulently transferring a prime piece of land located in Karen, Nairobi.

Justice David Majanja ruled that the prosecution of Josephine Akoth Anyango and her brother Simon Otieno Onyango was an abuse of the court process since the land in dispute valued at over Sh100 million was the subject of another court proceeding.

“After careful review of the petition, I issue an order stopping the Director of Public Prosecution from prosecuting the two pending the determination of a civil case touching on the land in dispute or any appeal that will arise from the determination,” ruled Majanja.

IN RETALIATION

According to the petition, the dispute dates back to 2002 when Ms Onyango entered into an agreement with Sehit Investment Limited through its director Rose Mbithe Mulwa to buy the land at a cost of Sh18 million.

She paid a deposit of Sh9.5 million with the balance of Sh8.5 million being financed by Kenya Commercial Bank.

In 2008, the company requested that she sells the property back to them but she declined after which Ms Mulwa in retaliation stopped paying the agreed rent.

However in 2009, the company filed a suit against Ms Onyango claiming that the sale and transfer was null and void since she did not pay the full purchase price and that the transfer was procured through fraud and misrepresentation of facts. Ms Onyango then filed a counterclaim case seeking an eviction order of Ms Mulwa from the premises and her failure to continue paying the agreed rent.

As the two cases proceeded, the company filed complaints with the Director of Criminal Investigations claiming that Ms Onyango had forged the transfer of the land.

In December 2012, Ms Onyango was then charged with forgery while her brother was charged with conspiracy to defraud.