• The Commission added that the land was set aside for use by the Moi International Airport under the management of KAA.
• It includes part of the Moi International Airport runway, a UN support base, and a Kenyan Military Base and its Watchtower.
Image: FILE
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has moved to court seeking to recover ten parcels of public land worth Sh2.4 billion grabbed from the Moi International Airport in Mombasa.
The land belongs to Kenya Airport Authority (KAA).
The suit filed on Tuesday also seeks to recover Sh984,393,705 that was illegally compensated with respect to some of the land parcels compulsorily acquired by the National Land Commission for the construction of the SGR and the Dongo - Kundu Kipevu Road Project in Mombasa.
EACC said the compensation was paid by NLC to a gas company, which is listed as the current owner of all the Airport land parcels.
The suit was filed at the Mombasa Environment and Land Court.
The Commission added that the land was set aside for use by the Moi International Airport under the management of KAA.
It includes part of the Moi International Airport runway, a UN support base, and a Kenyan Military Base and its Watchtower.
The Commission has listed 16 defendants in its case, including officers from the NLC.
EACC said the fraudulent acquisition of the land, caused KAA to lose a strategic asset for the administration, control, management and advancement of state operations relating to the airport.
"Despite EACC issuing all the defendants with demands to surrender the property and notice of intention to sue in default thereof, the Defendants have failed to comply necessitating the filing of this suit," it added.
The Commission wants the court to declare that the alienation of the land was illegal and order the Land Registrar, Mombasa District Registry to rectify the register by the cancellation of the entries relating to the grabbed parcels of land.
It also requested the court to order the suspected grabbers to vacate the land with immediate effect.
"EACC is seeking a declaration that the compensation for the parcels compulsorily acquired by the NLC for construction of the Standard Gauge Railway and the Dongo - Kundu Kipevu Road Project, was illegal, null and void," it added.
On March 14, 1961, the government reserved a 1,183 acre-land for the Moi International Airport, then called the Port Reitz Aerodrome, which was given to the Aerodromes department as its custodian.
The government acquired more land for the airport on March 17, 1972, and all the assets and liabilities of the Airport were transferred to the KAA.
EACC established that on February 28, 1996, the Managing director of the KAA, fraudulently instructed a survey of the Airport's perimeter, which resulted in the production of two survey plans.
They showed a reduced acreage of the original parcel to 76 ha.
"Subsequently, the Managing Director initiated the process that led to the irregular excision and illegal alienation of the land intended for Moi International Airport in favour of twelve private individuals and entities," EACC said.
It added that on or about December 1996, 12 parcels of the land were illegally transferred to the aforementioned gas company.
EACC also found out that the property has rates arrears that have accumulated over the years, as the company has not been remitting land rates.
The Commission said the NLC paid an illegal compensation of Sh141,361,400 after the land was acquired by the KeNHA for the construction of the Dongo-Kundu Kipevu Road Project.
"In 2017, the SGR Project commenced, and Kenya Railways Corporation made a request to the National Lands Commission for acquisition which saw parcels of land acquired and illegally compensated for Sh 141,361,400," EACC said.