Two businessmen were arrested and arraigned with conspiracy to fraudulently forge a title deed of National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) land valued at Sh1.5 billion.
Frederick Kimani and Peter Leparakwo appeared before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina Monday, May 15, and denied 20 counts related to fraud and forgery.
Kimani and Leparakwo are also accused of forging the Certificate of Title Land and altering computer data with the intent for it to be considered and acted upon for legal purposes.
The prosecution said the property which is located in Karen Plains measures 9.250 hectares belonging to NHIF.
Leparakwo was also charged with destroying evidence on dates between June 28, 2021, and December 6, 2021, at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
According to the charge sheet, he willfully destroyed the Certificate of the Title Land with an intent to prevent it from being used as evidence in a judicial proceeding.
Leparakwo is also accused of forcibly holding possession of the said land. According to the charge sheet, without color of right he held possession of the said land in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace against NHIF which is entitled by law to possess the said land.
Kimani is accused of impersonation. According to the charge sheet, he falsely represented himself as a Director of Cirtex Kenya Limited.
He also faced another charge of forging a KRA Pin certificate with the intent to defraud NHIF on the said parcel of land.
The two were also accused of giving false information to a police officer that they were the rightful owners of the said land.
They were also accused of procuring the registration of the said parcel of land by falsely pretending that they were directors of Cirtex Kenya Limited.
The accused through their lawyers Philip Nyachoti and Onwong’a Orenge told the court that they had been charged with offenses that had not been properly investigated as one of the accused persons, Leparakwo had previously been charged with similar offenses last year but the DPP withdrew the charges.
“The 2nd accused was charged with the same offense in 2022 and was released on Sh300,000 bond,..the matter later was withdrawn by the court and now he is being charged with the same matter, and the bond is not yet returned,” his lawyer told the court.
Orenge pleaded with the court to consider the age of Leparakwo as he was an elderly man who has been in possession of the said land for over 40 years.
Chief Magistrate Onyina released them on a cash bail of Sh400,000 each and a surety of the same amount.
The case will be mentioned on May 29 for pretrial.
Last weekend, unknown people raided the land and started to demarcate and allocate the land to themselves. Police were alerted and chased the group.
