Panic at lands commission after corruption evidence stolen

The National Lands Commission (NLC) is in panic as crucial compensation records go missing from their headquarters in Nairobi.

Citizen Digital has learnt that a computer containing documents that may hold the answers to the corruption web at the commission was stolen over the weekend.

Sources have revealed to Citizen Digital that the 2nd floor offices at Ardhi house were broken into over the weekend and a computer CPU with crucial records stolen.

The computer is said to contain among others compensation records of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) that formed the basis of the arrest of top NLC officials as well as the Kenya Railways bosses who according to the DCI and the DPP compensated undeserving persons and entities.

According to the Auditor General, Ksh.2.8billion had already been paid out as claims of the SGR for the year 2014/2015 in a suspected collusion with cartels to deprive the rightful owners of their due compensation.

The report also shows that in some instances payments were done without surveying the land and in some cases without valuation reports.

Since its establishment, the National Lands Commission has acquired several dams that require compensation, and now records of the beneficiaries have disappeared.

High profile compensation inquests could have also been affected by the grand theft at the NLC, including the Ruaraka land saga, where the commission was accused of compensating businessman Francis Mburu Ksh.1.5 billion for a land that government claims ownership of.

The Senate, in its report that was rejected, recommended that Interior CS Dr. Fred Matiang’i who was then education minister should take responsibility for the loss of public money.

Education PS Belio Kipsang as well as NLC boss Mohamed Swazuri were also implicated by the Senate Public Accounts and Investment Committee.

It is not clear whether there was backup for the information that acts as the fulcrum of the commission’s operations.

Until Monday evening, NLC bosses were held up in a lengthy closed door meeting.

Sources indicate that the officials are reviewing CCTV footage in search for clues into the heist at the lands commission.