Lands Commission Chairman Mohammed Swazuri among Seven Top State Officials Arrested Over SGR Compensation Fraud

National Lands Commission (NLC) Chairman Mohammed Swazuri has been arrested over alleged fraudulent compensation of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) land.

Swazuri was arrested on Saturday morning by officers from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) alongside six other top government officials following orders by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji.

The officials will spend the weekend at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) cells at Integrity Centre in Nairobi and will be arraigned in court on Monday to face various charges of corruption and economic crimes. 

“The DPP has consented to charges against National Land Commission (NLC) Chair Dr Swazuri and others in relation to SGR compensation,” the DPP said on Twitter on Saturday morning.

National Lands Commission CEO Tom Aziz Chavangi, Salome Munubi (NLC Director Valuation and Taxation), Francis Karimi Mugo (Director, Finance and Administration), Gladys Mwikali Muyanga (Land Registrar Ministry of Land and Physical Planning) and Obadiah Mbugua Wainaina (a Licensed Surveyor) are other officials arrested alongside Swazuri.

Also being sought is Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Kariuki Maina and several other state officials.

It is alleged that Swazuri and the other officials authorized payment of billions of shillings to individuals and companies that did not deserve compensation for the land through which the multi-billion shilling SGR line would pass through.

"Further, NLC officials fully cognizant of that fact (above) proceeded to irregularly and illegally award and compensate the entities and persons in whose favor the registration was done. Regrettably, KRC who is the custodian of Railway Reserve actively participated in the entire process of compensation undertaken for and on their behalf by NLC," added the statement issued by the DPP.