The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has initiated legal action, petitioning the court for restitution amounting to KES 1.6 billion from Rubis Energy over purportedly acquiring public land belonging to the Kenya Railways Corporation.
The EACC has filed a lawsuit against former lands officials who served as commissioners of lands between 1975 and 1999. Additionally, a former director of physical planning in the Lands Ministry is implicated in the suit.
According to documents submitted by the anti-graft agency, the former land officials are accused of irregularly allocating the land to private entities. The contested property, situated at the intersection of Uhuru Highway and Haile Selassie Avenue, serves as the headquarters of Rubis.
EACC contends that the land was originally earmarked for Kenya Railways and later relinquished for the construction of a flyover to alleviate traffic congestion in Nairobi.
However, the agency’s investigations allegedly revealed that the land was irregularly transferred and allocated to private entities, with complicity from the involved land officials.
The agency argues that the property, designated for public utilities, was not eligible for allocation. Thus, the purported alienation and creation of LR No. 209/9641 and LR No. 209/12133 by the defendants are deemed fraudulent, illegal, null, and void, as stated in the EACC’s affidavits before the Environment and Land Court in Nairobi.
Accusing the former lands officials of the unlawful disposition of public property, the EACC also alleges that Rubis knowingly and fraudulently orchestrated the alienation of already encumbered public land.
Consequently, the defendants are accused of breaching their fiduciary duties by purportedly alienating the contested property.
Furthermore, the anti-graft agency claims that despite requests from Kenya Railways, Rubis has refused to relinquish the land to the government. Consequently, the EACC is seeking Sh1.6 billion in compensation from the firm for utilizing the land for private purposes over the years.
