we have reports that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) of Kenya has successfully reclaimed a prime residential estate valued at approximately $520,000 in the upscale Nyali neighborhood of Mombasa County. The property, featuring a four-bedroom bungalow and servant quarters, was initially designated for the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) before being unlawfully acquired in 2000.
In a legal battle that began in 2009, the EACC filed a civil suit in the Environment and Land Court to return the property to government hands. Defendants in the case included Luka Kimutai, his spouse Sally Jepkpoech, and their joint company, Toro Estates. The former Commissioner of Lands, Sammy Silas Komen Mwaita, was also named in the suit due to his involvement in the illegitimate allocation of the property to Kimutai.
Justice Nelly Matheka sided with the EACC, citing evidence that demonstrated the land’s public designation before its fraudulent allocation. Matheka declared the allocation to Kimutai illegal and ordered the land’s ownership to revert to the government. The ruling also invalidated the lease issued to Kimutai and his company and ordered the land register to be rectified through the cancellation of title and all related entries.
In addition, the court issued a preservation order and a permanent injunction prohibiting Toro Estates from any transactions involving the land, other than transferring it back to the government.
The EACC expressed satisfaction with the outcome, noting that the case is one of many involving unlawfully acquired public land. Eric Ngumbi, the EACC’s head of corporate affairs and communication, explained, “This matter is one of the asset recovery cases worth more than $400 million currently pending before various courts across the country where EACC is seeking orders to compel the illegal owners of public property to forfeit the same to the State.”