A Member of County Assembly and two others have been charged with Sh 15 million land fraud.
Harambee ward Anthony Kimemia Gathumbi, Daniel Munyao Mbithi and Jane Nyambura Karia appeared before Milimani Principal Magistrate Ben-Mark Ekhubi and denied the charges against them.
The trio are accused of conspiring to defraud Esther Wanjiru Mwakuwa and Daniel Abdenego of Sh 9.46 million by falsely transferring a piece of land in Umoja II, Nairobi measuring 0.0225 hectares.
The court heard that the land that was allegedly acquired falsely by the three was valued at Sh 15 million.
According to the charge sheet, the trio allegedly forged the documents to sell a land to the unspecting buyers on or before December 16, 2020, at the Central Land Registry in Nairobi.
Mbithi, one of the three is facing multiple counts of obtaining money by false pretenses.
Court documents indicate that on August 11, 2020, he allegedly obtained Sh 1.5 Million from Abdenego at Mungai Kalonzo & Company Advocates’ office, falsely claiming he could sell him the disputed land.
On October 7, 2020, Mbithi is said to have fraudulently received Sh 5 million from the same Abdenego at an Absa Bank branch in Buru Buru.
He allegedly repeated the scam on March 12, 2021, collecting another Sh1 million, and again on March 25, 2021, when he obtained Sh 1.96 million both under the pretense of selling the same piece of land.
Mbithi is also charged with presenting a fake certificate of lease for Nairobi Block 83/1308, dated May 7, 2013, to a police officer on January 12, 2024, at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters, purporting it to be genuine.
The court released Mbithi on a bond of Sh 5 Million or an alternative cashbail of Sh 2 Million.
The MCA and Nyambura however, we’re released on a bond of Sh 2 million or an alternative cashbail of Sh 800,000.
The matter will be mentioned on 26th February.