Former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Davis Nathan Chelogoi received a three-year prison term over land fraud.
The court ordered concurrent sentences on six counts involving a disputed Lower Kabete Road property.
Former Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Davis Nathan Chelogoi will serve three years in prison in a Ksh1.35 billion land fraud case. The dispute centred on a 7.39-hectare property along Lower Kabete Road.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Dolphina Alego delivered the sentence on November 2. Before sentencing, she considered submissions from the defence and prosecution, alongside a victim impact report.
Sentences in the land fraud case
Alego imposed two-year prison terms on each of the first two counts. She also handed Chelogoi three-year terms on each of counts three, four and five.
The sixth count attracted a one-year prison sentence. However, the magistrate directed that all six sentences run concurrently, leaving Chelogoi with an effective three-year term.
The court also adopted the victim impact assessment report as a court order. Alego informed Chelogoi that he had 14 days to appeal.
The sentencing followed a lengthy legal battle over ownership of the Lower Kabete Road parcel. Prosecutors established that Chelogoi fraudulently acquired and registered the land between May 2020 and June 2021.
Forged documents and competing ownership claims
The prosecution alleged that Chelogoi used forged ownership documents, a fabricated registry file card and falsified signatures. Those documents supported his claim to the property.
However, Land Registrar Pauline Achieng Pesa challenged the documents during her testimony. She told the court that the official stamps and signatures bearing her name were forgeries.
Investigators also found no authentic historical records at the Ministry of Lands supporting Chelogoi’s ownership before the disputed 2021 registration.
Meanwhile, complainants Ashok Rupshi Shah and Hitenkumar Amritlal Raja traced their purchase to January 2007. The businessmen bought the parcel from Lima Company Limited for Ksh33 million.
The Environment and Land Court upheld their ownership in 2022. The Court of Appeal subsequently affirmed that decision.
Chelogoi maintained that former President Daniel arap Moi had allocated him the land in January 1995 for Ksh2.48 million. However, the court rejected his defence.
