Equity CEO Mwangi not owner of disputed land - State officers

Former President Daniel Moi applauds a choir entertaining guests at Sunshine Secondary School during a thanksgiving service on April 3, 2016. Mr Moi said he was the rightful and only registered proprietor of a land he bought from Joreth Ltd. PHOTO | ANTHONY NJAGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The officials however said a genuine transfer of the property was effected on June 17, 2016 to Maestro Connections Health Systems Ltd between Mr Moi and US-based businessman George Kiongera.
  • In court papers filed earlier, Mr Moi said he was the rightful and only registered proprietor of the property he bought for Sh600,000 from Joreth Ltd.

The mystery surrounding the ownership of a plot former President Daniel Moi reportedly sold to two parties deepened when the chief land registrar and the director of survey filed statements at the High Court distancing themselves from the transaction.

They denied involvement in the transaction said to involve Equity Bank boss James Mwangi, through Muthaiga Luxury Homes Ltd, who has also been laying claim to the property.

The officials however said a genuine transfer of the property was effected on June 17, 2016 to Maestro Connections Health Systems Ltd between Mr Moi and US-based businessman George Kiongera.

“Mr Moi transferred the land to Maestro Connections Health Systems Ltd for Sh500 million,” the document reads.

The chief land registrar and the director of survey said in the court papers that a February 23, 2012 sale agreement between Muthaiga Luxury Homes and the former president was unknown to their office but they confirmed that Sh12,000,040 was paid as stamp duty to the government on April 18, 2012.

The position taken by the chief land registrar and the director of survey regarding the said transfer of the land to Maestro Connections last year contradicts claims by Mr Moi who has maintained that he has never sold the land since he purchased it in 1982.

In court papers filed earlier, Mr Moi said he was the rightful and only registered proprietor of the property he bought for Sh600,000 from Joreth Ltd.

He added that “those claiming the land are interlopers and pretenders”.

Meanwhile, the state officials said they were “strangers to Mr Mwangi’s claims” and not in a position to determine which party had been in possession of the land.

Mr Mwangi states that upon registration of the transfer, he paid the full purchase price of Sh300 million to Mr Moi and took possession of the land and that he has since been paying rates to the Nairobi County government.

The Equity Bank boss says he later learnt through press reports that Dr Kiongera and the United States International University were also claiming the land.

The chief land registrar and the director of survey denied claims of conspiring to defraud Mr Mwangi of the land.

The case proceeds on February 16.