Equity Bank entangled in State House land grab probe
Journalists are shown the hotel being built on alleged Mombasa State House land. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has sued Mr Edward Mwangi Irungu, Minalove Hotel and Restaurant Limited and Equity Bank Limited over the alleged grabbing.
EACC investigator Abdulhamid Low said in an affidavit that the evidence gathered so far, “it is apparent that the property was acquired as a result of corrupt conduct.”
The investigator further said he had established that a charge dated July 8, 2013 which was executed by Minalove was then registered to Equity Bank.
Equity Bank is one of the institutions under investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over alleged grabbing of Mombasa State House land.
The EACC moved to court to stop any transactions related to plot number MI/XXVI/1010, which is alleged to have been part of the Mombasa State House but was hived off and allocated to private developers.
The anti-corruption watchdog has sued Mr Edward Mwangi Irungu, Minalove Hotel and Restaurant Limited and Equity Bank Limited over the alleged grabbing.
EACC investigator Abdulhamid Low said in an affidavit that the evidence gathered so far, “it is apparent that the property was acquired as a result of corrupt conduct.”
The investigator further said he had established that a charge dated July 8, 2013 which was executed by Minalove was then registered to Equity Bank.
Last week’s site visit by EACC officials revealed that the developers were in the process of constructing a posh hotel just 100 metres from State House, separated by a brick wall from the former Coast Provincial Commissioner’s residence.
The High Court has issued orders suspending any activity on the land.
Justice Samuel Mukunya prohibited the developers, their agents and servants from transferring, disposing, wasting, charging or dealing with the land situated in Kizingo for six months.
Mr Low stated in his affidavit that the commission received a complaint of suspected corrupt conduct by the respondents in the alienation of land measuring 0.0708 hectares within the precincts of State House Mombasa and reserved for public utility.
The EACC official then commenced investigations and collected documents among them certificate of lease which discloses the registered proprietor to be Mr Irungu as from April 27, 1998, who then executed a transfer in favour of Minalove on July 2, 2013.
The property is reserved for the building of high grade government houses according to Mr Low’s investigations, which was confirmed by correspondence from the Office of the President and Ministry of Interior Coordination and National Government.
In his brief to the media, EACC spokesman Yassin Aila said the former PC’s residence was earmarked for the construction of the Deputy President’s residence.
The house is unoccupied after the PC was recently evicted to pave the way for the construction of the DP’s residence.
“We cannot believe this, that one can acquire land in the middle of State House land and construct a hotel. We are shocked because this hotel is almost complete while we did not have any information,” he noted.
Mr Yasin noted that what was more surprising was that the land was sub-divided into smaller plots “which can never happen” and documents indicate that the government leased the land to the new owner. He said it was the first case of State House land being grabbed.
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