Thursday, July 11, 2024 - Three individuals suspected of being part of an organized criminal group that targets landowners in Eldoret have been arraigned at the Chief Magistrate Court in Eldoret, thanks to Land Fraud Investigations Unit (LFIU) detectives from DCI Headquarters.
Paul Kirwa Samoei, Julius Kipkosgei Ruto, and Tamar Cheptoo Birgen were arraigned following comprehensive investigations, after the three fraudsters used a forged Title Deed to file an application before the court, thereby obtaining an eviction order used to evict genuine land owners on October 7, 2022.
In the fraudulence, four victims lost their 20-acre parcel of land which they had been legally occupying since 2001, a land located in the Ngeria area of Kapseret constituency in Uasin Gishu County.
Investigations were initiated following a letter received at the DCI headquarters on January 31, 2024, from the affected landowners. The letter requested an inquiry into the suspicious acquisition of a title deed on their land, which was registered as PIONEER/NGERIA BLOCK 1(EATEC)/1980.
However, the genuine victims claimed to have purchased the same land from East African Tanning Extract Company Limited (EATEC) in 2001.
Painstaking investigations revealed that the Ministry of Lands did not issue the title deed used by the fraudsters. Furthermore, the title deed was not printed by Government Printers, and no records of its issuance were found in the land registry presentation book.
Additionally, the green card for the land was not serialized, as it was not captured in the Uasin Gishu County land registry data.
A document examiner's report also indicated that stamps and signatures on an acknowledgment note showing payment for the land to the late Hon. Mark Too in the presence of advocate Paul Birech had been forged.
Consequently, 7 counts have been preferred against the suspects, who pleaded not guilty and were released on a Sh500,000 bond. The pretrial has been scheduled for July 22, 2024, at Eldoret's court no. 5.
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