Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has ordered investigations into EACC Commissioner Paul Mwaniki Gachoka's law firm over its involvement in a Ksh8 billion land scam.
Haji wrote to Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti to launch a probe after it emerged that matter had been filed with both EACC and DCI but little progress had been made.
In June 2018, the case was reported to the anti-graft agency but no action was taken. Another complaint was filed at DCI in August the same year but nothing materialised.
In the DPP's latest letter to DCI, the office protested the laxity with which the matter had been handled, adding that Haji had received a third complaint.
“In the said letter, we enclosed a very serious, albeit detailed complaint addressed to the Director of Public Prosecutions. To date, the Director of Public Prosecutions has not received any response or the police investigations file. The Director of Public Prosecutions has now received a further complaint (enclosed) touching on the same subject matter. Could we have the police investigations file without further delay,” wrote the chief prosecutor.
According to Nation, the scandal involves 302 acres of prime land valued at Ksh 8 billion located both sides of Northern Bypass near Kamiti in Nairobi.
The law firm's first implication is the fraudulent acquisition of the land while the second implication involved payments of compensation money by the Roads Ministry to a company registered unprocedurally.
The land in question belonged to former Provincial Commissioner John Godhand Mburu, who died in 1981. The deceased had acquired the land in 1974.
In 2010, the property was hived off for the construction of the Western Bypass and compensation paid to a shadowy company. The remainder of the land later changed hands before being subdivided into small plots and sold to unsuspecting buyers.
