Besieged National Land Commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri is said to be cursing deputy Chief Executive Officer of the ethics and anti-corruption commission following his surprise arrest over KeNHA land compensation controversy.
Highly placed sources within the EACC revealed what appeared to be a sealed deal between Swazi and EACC deputy CEO Michael Mubea who reportedly assured the NLC chairman that the commission would go slow on him over the case.
But tables turned when the EACC CEO Mr. Twalib Mbarak while responding to numerous cases across the country that his deputy was protecting some corrupt individuals, decided to withdraw some key files from him. The KeNHA land compensation is said to be one of the files that was withdrawn from Mubea’s office while others include corruption cases at the county level.
Following the arrest, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) issued a statement on the ongoing investigations at the National Land Commission (Land reference MN/VI/3801 in Mombasa).
The parcel of land targeted for compulsory acquisition by the Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) had been initially valued at Ksh 34 million in 2015. Tornado Carries Ltd refused the offer before the then NLC Chairman ordered for a new evaluation into the matter. But another round of evaluation calculated the value at sh109 million in 2017 which KeNHA passed to NLC for further payout to the land owners.
On April 9 2019, EACC directed the DPP that there was sufficient evidence to warrant prosecution of the suspects in the saga.
Swazuri is to face conspiracy to commit an economic crime, abuse of office, financial misconduct, unlawful acquisition of public property, fealing with suspect property and money laundering. Swazuri has in the past been charged with conspiring to defraud the government of Ksh221.3 million in the SGR compensation scandal.
He has also been accused with abuse of office, breach of trust, unlawful acquisition of public property and neglect of official duty. In the meantime Mubea has been of late making technical appearances in the office but on claims of frequent sickness.
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