DCI seeks Interpol help to nab trader over Sh1.35b land fraud

DCI Headquarters on September 8, 2023. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has written to Interpol and immigration to help establish the whereabouts of a Nairobi businessman who disappeared two weeks after a magistrate issued a warrant of arrest after he failed to appear in court.

DCI is hunting for Davis Nathan Chelogoi, former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, who is implicated in the forgery of land title and other documents of an 18-acre land located at Lower Kabete in Nairobi valued at Sh1.35 billion

Milimani Principal Magistrate Dolphina Alego on December 23, last year, issued the warrant after Chelogoi failed to appear in court for plea-taking in a case where he is jointly charged with Assistant Deputy Director for Lands Administration Andrew Kirungu.

The prosecution alleges that Chelogoi and Kirungu conspired to defraud Ashok Rupshi and Hitenkumar Raja of the land along Lower Kabete Road.

In the letter addressed to the Interpol, immigration, and all government departments, DCI said any information on Chelogoi will be welcomed.

The prosecution alleged on diverse dates between May 2020 and June 2021, Kirungu and Chelogoi procured registration of the said land by falsely pretending the property belonged to the latter.

Kirungi was also charged with abuse of office and was remanded in custody until December 28, last year, when the court gave him bail.

However, Chelogoi has been on the run.

In August 2022, an Environment and Land Court ordered businessman Jacob Juma (deceased) to pay Sh50 million for attempting to grab the same land.

Environment and Land Court judge Loice Komingoi, in her ruling, noted that the late Juma grabbed and illegally occupied the prime land in Loresho, thereby denying its real owners the right to enjoy their property.

The judge did not, however, specify whether the compensation would be paid by Juma's widow Miriam Wairimu.

According to the judge, a forensic document examiner had proved that the signature on Juma's title was a forgery.

On Wednesday, Mr Shah, owner of land known as LR 18485, was threatened by goons after he went to access the land. He reported the incident at the Spring Valley Police Station.

"I kept fighting against Jacob Juma in the court case for 13 years, and finally, the court delivered the judgment in July 2022 confirming that we were the legitimate owners of the property. Later after the court ruling in our favour, to our surprise, Davis Nathan Chelogoi claimed that he was the owner of this property," said Shah.