Tuesday, January 4, 2025 - William Kimei Tanui, a land fraud suspect and a man who is often implicated in broad fraudulent schemes that target prime parcels of land in Eldoret Township, was arraigned at Eldoret Law Courts and charged with Conspiracy to defraud, Perjury and obtaining land registration through misrepresentation of facts in court.
The arrest of the suspect on Friday, January 31, 2025 followed a complaint by the distressed owner of a 0.0929 ha land located at Pioneer area of Eldoret South, whose efforts to assume full control of her land and develop it had been paralyzed by threats from Kimei and a local criminal faction.
As land fraud investigators probed the case, it was uncovered that, Kimei, knowingly and with intent to obtain land registration, had on 16th October, 2023 filed an affidavit at the High Court purporting to have been in occupation of the land since 1971, thus misleading the court to declare him the genuine owner of the land valued at approximately Sh 50 million.
Meanwhile, two other suspects; Margaret Jemutai Kangogo and Zendera Kiplagat Biwott had moved to a lower court on January 25, 2023, where they jointly swore and filed affidavits claiming occupation of the same parcel of land since 1999.
Having succeeded in misleading the court to declare them the genuine owners through the registration of a decree issued on May 10, 2023, the two proceeded to the Ministry of Lands for the acquisition of all requisite documents, until Kimei went knocking at the same doors.
It was while the two fraudulent groups were vehemently engaging in a battle of sinister complots that the victim woke up to the reality of possessing papers but with nothing to show on the ground, and sought police assistance.
A slippery Kimei was traced and arrested, but Kangogo and Biwott have since holed up. A warrant is in force for the arrest of the duo.
Upon his arraignment, Kimei pleaded "not guilty" on all charges, and was released on a Sh 200,000 bond with the alternative of a cash bail of Sh 50,000.
The matter will be mentioned on February 17, 2025.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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