Judge queries Daniel Moi signature in Sh1.6bn land row

Retired President Daniel Moi addresses attendants of the opening of Trans National Bank, Iten branch, in Elgeyo-Marakwet County on January 23, 2015. Tulip Properties Limited managing director Jaswan Singh Rai says he bought land from Moi. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Arusei told the court they want to prove the authenticity of the two titles being held by Mr Rai and the other traders.
  • Mr Rai told the judge that he was issued with a title deed of the land in dispute after he bought it from Mr Moi at Sh25 million.

A judge has declined to admit as evidence a photocopy of a sale agreement for a parcel of land measuring 16 hectares valued at Sh1.6 billion until the original is produced.

The document was allegedly signed by retired President Daniel Moi 22 years ago.

Justice Samson Okong’o ordered the managing director of Tulip Properties Limited, Jaswan Singh Rai, to produce the original sale agreement, which was registered at the Lands ministry, for the sale of the property in Embakasi, Nairobi.

Justice Okong’o upheld an objection by lawyers William Arusei and Innocent Muganda that the original agreement be produced in court failing which Mr Moi be summoned to appear in court to prove that the signature in the sale agreement between him and Tulip Properties Limited was his.

SIGNATURE
Mr Arusei also said the Registrar of Titles, who signed the sale agreement presented to him by Mr Rai through his lawyer Mr Virinder Goswani, be summoned to prove the signature was his.

“In the absence of the original document, we want Mr Moi in the dock and the Registrar of Titles to prove the signatures in the document produced in court are theirs,” Mr Arusei stated.

The judge directed Mr Rai to endeavour to produce the original documents, which his lawyer George Oraro said were “somewhere”.

Mr Muganda told the judge that after the admission of the sale agreement documents at the Land Registry Office, the original is usually returned to the owner.

TITLE DEED
The judge heard that all the endorsements of the transaction will be shown in the original documents, including the payments for the land.

Four traders are arguing that they applied for the land and it was allocated to them in 1988 by the Commissioner of Lands.

Mr Arusei told the court they want to prove the authenticity of the two titles being held by Mr Rai and the other traders: Laboso, Nur Makaka and Hassan.

Mr Rai told the judge that he was issued with a title deed of the land in dispute after he bought it from Mr Moi at Sh25 million.

The hearing continues.