Uhuru kin entangled in S K Macharia and NLC land probe row

A company owned by Royal Media Group owner S.K. Macharia Tuesday moved to court seeking to stop investigations into fraud allegations over the sale of a 100-acre piece of land to a State corporation 19 years ago.

Sceneries Limited sued the National Land Commission (NLC) for initiating investigations over the land without involving the firm, arguing the company is the one that sold the property to Kenya Reinsurance Corporation on July 10, 1997 for Sh550 million.

The company, through lawyer Kamau Kuria, faulted the NLC for accepting to initiate the probe over the sale after allegedly receiving a complaint from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cousin, Ngegi Muigai.

The company claimed it only learnt about the ongoing investigations in January yet the probe allegedly commenced in November last year and that the NLC has refused to grant it testimonies of three witnesses who have already testified against the firm.

“The complainant is neither the former owner of the said land nor a shareholder in Sceneries Ltd but wants the NLC to hold that the title or grant was obtained fraudulently and should therefore be cancelled,” Mr Kuria said.

No privacy of contract

“There is no privacy of contract between this company and Kenya Re, unless restrained the commission will carry on with its illegal proceedings and make its recommendations having not accorded us a fair hearing,” he added.

The NLC investigates land dealings that are suspected to have been acquired irregularly from the government. Sceneries also claimed that it cannot adequately prepare its defence without the testimony in support of the complaint which was presented in their absence.

The three witnesses included Mr Muigai, his consultant Mr Antonny Gathaita and a Mr James Kamwere.

The company intends to call its vendor whom the firm bought the land from in 1987 to testify in its defense.

Sceneries Ltd wants the court to issue orders calling for the record of the proceedings touching on the alleged investigations in order to determine the legality of the proceedings.

It also wants orders issued to the commission to review the grant of disposition of public land to establish its legality as well as declare proceedings held in their absence as null and void.

It further wants the investigations stopped besides certifying the matter as urgent. Mr Macharia and Mr Gilbert Kibe are directors of Sceneries Ltd and together with their spouses make four shareholders of the company.

According to Mr Macharia in the case documents, should NLC recommend that its former grant of the disputed land be cancelled and the same be acted upon, Kenya Re will demand a refund of the monies paid to purchase it.

He claimed that the investigations were done secretly until April 1 when he learned of them. “This court has the jurisdiction to grant conservatory orders in exercise of its inherent powers, this is a suitable case,” he said.