Ex-Nairobi PC Chelogoi jailed three years over Sh1.35bn land fraud

By  Richard Munguti

Correspondent

Nation Media Group

Former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Davis Nathan Chelogoi has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding a landowner in a Sh1.35 billion land fraud case.

Milimani Chief Magistrate Dolphina Alego handed down the sentence after convicting Chelogoi, who served as a senior provincial administration official during President Daniel arap Moi’s era, on five counts linked to the fraudulent acquisition of the disputed 18-acre parcel of land in Nairobi’s Loresho area.

Before the sentence was pronounced, Chelogoi pleaded for leniency, asking the court to consider a non-custodial sentence due to his frail health.

His lawyer told the court that the former provincial commissioner had complied with court orders throughout the proceedings and cooperated during the trial.

He dismissed allegations of intimidation as unsubstantiated, arguing that no evidence had been presented to support the claims.

The case revolved around competing ownership claims over the multimillion-shilling property, whose ownership had previously been upheld by the Environment and Land Court in 2022, a decision later affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

In his defence, Chelogoi maintained that former President Moi had allocated him the land in January 1995 for Sh2.48 million.

He argued that his demanding public service responsibilities delayed the regularisation of his ownership documents, eventually leading to the issuance of a title deed on June 4, 2021.

However, the trial magistrate found that he had failed to produce sufficient documentary evidence to authenticate the alleged allocation or establish a lawful chain of ownership.

Land Registrar Pauline Achieng testified that the signatures and stamp impressions attributed to her on documents used to process Chelogoi’s title were not genuine.

The court also identified inconsistencies in registry tracking numbers and missing historical survey records, deed plans and original registry entries.

Another accused person, former lands official Andrew Kirungu, who argued that his role was limited to administrative processing, was acquitted.

The court noted that correspondence and files at the Ministry of Lands were either missing or destroyed, raising reasonable doubt about whether Kirungu knew of the competing ownership claims.

“The evidence establishes that the relevant correspondence and files inside the Ministry of Lands were either missing or destroyed,” the magistrate observed.

The court also raised concerns over alleged intimidation during the delivery of the judgment and delays that characterised the proceedings.

Follow our WhatsApp channel for breaking news updates and more stories like this.