MP Arama to be charged with illegal acquisition of plot

Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria and other leaders arrive at Nakuru Railways Police Station on June 23, 2018, where the Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama is being held. Mr Arama will be charged in court on Monday, June 25, 2018. PHOTO | AYUB MUIYURO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The DPP accused the MP of colluding with officers from the Nakuru land registry to illegally transfer the land in question to himself.
  • The EACC had earlier indicated that it was hunting for three more suspects in connection with the land fraud.
  • The MP and four others, including the lawyer, conspired to defraud Mr Ahmed Muhammad Nisar by means of dispossessing him of plot 6/95.

Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama will appear in court on Monday to answer to corruption related charges.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji confirmed that he had approved the charges against the lawmaker, who was arrested in an entertainment joint on Friday night.

“The DPP has approved charges to be preferred against Hon Samuel Arama,” Mr Haji said in a statement.

“This is as a result of investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after a complaint from a resident was received in relation to the manner in which Mr Arama acquired a plot in Nakuru Municipality,” the statement added.

SUSPECTS

According to Mr Haji, Mr Arama will face charges of abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud, making a document without authority, uttering a document with intent to deceive, obtaining registration of land by false pretence and knowingly misleading an investigator.

The DPP accused the MP of colluding with officers from the Nakuru land registry to illegally transfer the land in question to himself.

Mr Haji appeared to have let off the hook lawyer Kennedy Begi Onkoba, whom the EACC had recommended that he be charged alongside the MP.

The EACC had earlier indicated that it was hunting for three more suspects in connection with the land fraud.

FRAUD

Mr Arama and Mr Onkoba were arrested on Friday night, and they are being held at Kenya Railways Police station in Nakuru Town.

“They were netted in a swoop by the anti-graft agency detectives, who are still searching for three more culprits involved in the land racket,” a statement from the anti-graft agency said.

The EACC had recommended that Mr Arama faces several counts of corruption involving land transactions and abuse of office contrary to section 46 as read with section 48 (1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, 2003.

According to the detectives, the MP and four others, including the lawyer, conspired to defraud Mr Ahmed Muhammad Nisar by means of dispossessing him of plot 6/95 on diverse dates between August 3, 2015 and August 11, 2015.

FALSE STATEMENT

The detectives added that the MP made a document without authority, purporting it to have been signed by Mr Yusufu Mustafah Ratemo.

“Mr Arama wilfully procured for himself land registration of certificate of lease of Nakuru Municipality Block 6/95, the property of Mr Nisar, by falsely pretending that he had bought it from Mr Ratemo,” the charge sheet from EACC reads.

The agency further said that in February 2016 at EACC offices in Nakuru Town, the MP knowingly misled detectives by claiming he bought the plot from Mr Ratemo at a cost of Sh60 million, which he knew was false.

Mr Onkoba is accused of misleading the detectives in April last year by stating that Mr Ratemo appeared before him and signed a land sale agreement in respect of plot Nakuru municipality block 6/95.

PROTESTS

The MP was arrested together with the lawyer while having supper with his friends at a joint in the town.

His brother, Mr Charles Arama, told Sunday Nation the MP was arrested at about 9pm because of a land dispute.

On Saturday, several MPs and his supporters spent the better part of the day camping at the station as they demanded he be released.

Among the leaders were Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria, Kuresoi South MP Joseph Tonui and nominated MP Sammy Seroney.

The leaders said their efforts to secure bond for the MP flopped after officers holding him said they were waiting for orders from the DPP.

“Even the investigating officer from EACC says he is waiting for orders from the DPP. We wonder how an EACC officer should be receiving directives from the DPP,” Mr Gikaria said.

SECURITY

Mr Arama’s lawyer Samson Nyagaka claimed that his client was arrested because of a statement he made during a press conference on Friday attacking National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.

“From the instructions I have received from the MP, he was arrested after he made the remarks. This is not a land matter, but witch-hunt against my client based on the stand he made,” Mr Nyagaka claimed.

For the better part of the day, the station remained under tight security, with officers from other stations deployed to provide back-up.

More than five police vehicles brought in officers armed with guns and teargas canisters as the aggressive mob kept growing with time. Nakuru OCPD Samuel Obara was also at the station.