ODM REBEL MP COUGHT UP IN A LAND CASE

Rangwe MP George Oner Ogalo tampered with original documents
for land he was contracted to survey, a court heard on Wednesday.
Businessman Benson Riitho told the court that the MP made
alterations to the 50-acre land, which he then subdivided and sold
without consent. Mr Riitho was giving evidence in a criminal case
against Mr Oner at the Milimani Law Courts. He said: “I gave the
MP all original title deeds, including
money to be paid as tax.” Magistrate Edda Agade heard that the
money given to Mr Oner was never paid to the Kenya Revenue
Authority because there was no documentation to prove the
payment was made.
Mr Riitho said there were fraudulent transfers of his property in
Embakasi Nairobi instigated by the surveyor while he was
indisposed.
The witness said that he later wrote a letter on December 7, 2011,
asking for the original receipts paid to the Kenya Revenue
Authority by the accused but he did not get any.
The witness said he came to discover anomalies on Mr Oner’s
progressive report on the land after he went through the document
and found it was not
reflecting the reality on the ground. “The surveyor took advantage
of my bad health when I was in hospital between 2008 and 2011 to
subdivide
my land and illegally dispose of it. “When I got the progress report
from Oner’s company, I discovered that it could not tally,” he said.
The court heard that the sub-divisions and sale that were
purportedly done by the accused were later cancelled by the
Nairobi City Council through minutes
dated September 25, 2007, because authority and consent had not
been obtained.
SUB-DIVISION ILLEGAL
“The entire sub-division of the 50 acres of land was cancelled
because it was illegal,” said the witness. Mr Riitho said that the
accused sold more than 150 plots without his authority, forcing
him to seek legal
redress.
The MP is accused of making a document without authority. The
charge states that on March 6, 2008, with intent to defraud
businessman Benson Riitho Mureithi, he issued him with
documents for the cancellation of a
parcel of land in Embakasi area, which he purported to be
genuinely issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority.
The hearing continues on May 29.