MP David Gikaria arrested, charged with land fraud

Nakuru Town East member of Parliament David Gikaria was arrested on Monday and taken to court over eight counts of land fraud.

MP Gikaria was apprehended by officers from the Nakuru Directorate of Criminal Investigations and questioned for hours.

He was later arraigned before Principal Magistrate Bernard Mararo after being driven to court under tight security, with Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama and Jubilee's Nakuru branch secretary Peter Cheruiyot in tow.

FORGERY

The lawmaker was charged with forging land documents and grabbing parcels of land within Nakuru County between August 28 and December 18, 2007.

According to the prosecution, he and accomplices manipulated entries of dates in the green cards of eight blocks of land and replaced the names of seven residents with others.

He faced counts of land grabbing, the charge sheet stating that he unlawfully held possession of land that belonged to seven individuals within Nakuru municipality between September 28, 2007 and December 18 that year.

RELEASE

Mr Gikaria denied all the charges and pleaded for lenient bond terms, claiming the charges were politically instigated.

Through his lawyer, he argued that his political opponents were out to settle scores.

The claims were, however, dismissed by the prosecution which said the Director of Public Prosecutions office cannot be influenced into framing charges against anybody.

The court released him on a personal bond of Sh3 million with a surety of the same amount, with the alternative of a cash bail of Sh1 million.

The case will be mentioned on January 30.