Naivasha Land Registrar Gildine Gatwiri Karani, one of the two (2) senior land officials involved in the fraudulent sale of 667 acres of public land worth over kes1.3 billion belonging to Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) in Kitale, was found with Ksh470,000 in her office.
The amount, seized by EACC officials during the Thursday investigative operation targeting implicated land officials, is believed to be part of money extorted from citizens seeking services on land matters in Naivasha.
Ms. Gildine Gatwiri Karani, together with her Kiambu counterpart, Benson Limo, are accused of masterminding the fraudulent scheme leading to the illegal sale of 667 acres of ADC land to private persons when they both served in the Nairobi Registry.
During the operation in the Kiambu Registrar’s residence, the Commission recovered volumes of assorted official land transaction documents.
The documents include blank certificates of title, blank green cards, duly processed title documents, and stamps for advocates believed to be for use in effecting fraudulent land transactions.
The two senior land officials are among the 42 land registrars across the country who are under investigation for fraudulent dealings and corruption in land administration.
These activities include alienating government land to private developers, colluding with fraudsters to commit irregularities, making double allocations, facilitating tax evasion through stamp duty, allocating private land to other individuals, and accumulating illicit or unexplained wealth.
