Java House Owner Jibril Embroiled In Sh150M Land Scam

Java House proprietor Ahmed Rashid Jibril is on the spot for allegedly using two fictitious documents to claim the ownership of a prime land off Mombasa Road in Nairobi.

Jibril together with his wife Farrah Ali Mohamed has already been charged in court for fraudulent acquisition of the contested land worth Sh150 million.

The duo is accused of allegedly grabbing the property from city businessman Francis Njeru and leasing it to China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) which uses it as a warehouse.

Initially, Jibril had told the court that he bought the property L.R 143067 from Joshua Kiptoo Toroitich through his firm ARJ Capital Limited with the transfer finalized in 2015.

But Jibril has reportedly changed tune, claiming that he purchased the property from Haji Buko contrary to initial court documents.

Jibril presented records claiming he purchased the contested land through Garane and Associates Advocates and precipitating the deed of transfer in 2015 after paying Sh104.2 million and an overpayment of Sh15 million for legal fees.

The High Court had ordered investigations into the alleged land fraud after Jibril and his wife was charged with conspiracy to defraud, making a false title document, obtaining the land’s registration by false pretense.

At the time point, Jibril had claimed he bought the land not from Buko but from Toroitich in the same period in 2015.

But upon reviewing the documents, the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) applied to terminate the case to pave way for more investigations.

But in March this year, CRBC and Jibril suffered a major blow after the court dismissed an application by the DPP seeking to drop charges against alleged fraudsters.

Milimani court senior resident magistrate Roseline Aganyo ruled that the criminal case against Jibril and Mohammed was of great public interest.

Records from the Lands Registrar submitted in court revealed that the parcel in dispute under Certificate of Title Number IR 176998 was first issued to Eliud Simon on 13/7/2016 and subsequently transferred to the Njeru on 12/4/2017.

A letter dated 5/11/2013 from the Director of Survey to the DCI indicated that Deed Plan number 238416 claimed by the three suspects did not originate from the Directorate of Survey.

In his ruling on the matter in February 2019, Environment and Land Court Judge Bernard Eboso noted that wide inconsistencies in the documents submitted the suspects.

“The purported title documents exhibited by the applicant are forgeries which had been interrogated by the Lands Departments and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and had been found to be pure forgeries,” he said.

Investigations had found that Land Reference Number 20273 purportedly compromised in Grant Number IR 63990 does not exist in the lands records.

Signatures on the documents also did not originate from officers in the Lands Registry.

Justice Eboso then urged the DCI and the Director of Public Prosecution to further investigate Omar’s affidavits and prefer charges that saw them take a plea.

“On or about 19th of October 2015 at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, jointly with others not before the court, conspired to defraud Francis Nyaga Njeru of his parcel of land  LR NO. 20273/1 IR 177998/1 valued at Sh75,000,000 by entering into a tenancy lease agreement with China Road and Bridges purporting that you were the registered owner of the land. A fact you knew to be false,” the charge sheet read.

Meanwhile, last week for entities including a children’s home filed a complaint to the Inspector General of police  Hillary Mutyambai seeking to have a senior detective attached to the Land Fraud Unit of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations probed for obstruction of justice.

Mombasa-based Sheik Zayed Children Welfare Centre (SZCWC), Manair
Ltd, Njeru, and Hassan Omar are among disgruntled individuals and entities that have recently lodged complaints at Vigilance house over the conduct of the officer.

Geoffrey Kinyua is accused of allegedly colluding with fraudsters in a bid to impede investigations into three land fraud cases.

Hassan Khan from Sheik Zayed children’s home went to the  DCI Land Fraud Unit after a company seized its Upper Hill land – LR No 209/11552 – in 2015.

But despite the matter being completed and the files submitted to Kinyua’s office, he has not submitted them to the Directorate of Public Prosecution for action.

“My prayer is that you look into the file in question yourself and see our complaint as registered landowners,” Khan’s letter to the IG in part.