Kanyotu’s son wants transfer of land probed
Alphonse Mung’ahu
A son of the late intelligence boss James Kanyotu has written to the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) requesting for a probe into how a 500-acre parcel of land belonging to the family was fraudulently transferred to a company associated with tycoon Kamlesh Pattni.
In a letter dated June 7, Willy Kihara wants the Registrar whom he has named to be investigated over the illegal transfer, saying the land transaction in Thika, estimated to be worth over Sh10 billion, was done despite a court order barring any dealings over the parcel.
He says the land was initially transferred to Trendsetters Investments Ltd, before it was later transferred to Marriot Africa International Ltd. The letter has been received at DCI Security Registry.
Kihara says the same people have been sending threatening messages, warning him to desist from fighting to reclaim the land.
Threatening message
He says in 2012, four years after the death of his father, Trendsetters fraudulently transferred the land, namely LR.11226/76 measuring approximately 500 acres worth Sh10 billion from Kangaita Coffee estates to themselves.
“I believe some of the accomplices of the said Registrar are the ones sending me threatening messages to end my life for my continued effort to recover the land,” Kihara says in the letter.
The Kanyotu family is fighting to reclaim the multi-billion property in Ruiru, arguing that the sale to Marriot was illegal.
Marriot, having bought it from Trendsetters Investments Ltd in 2012, owns the land.
Trendsetters say it purchased the land from Kangaita Coffee Estate, belonging to Kanyotu for Sh700 million in 2011.
Kihara further reveals that Marriot and Trendsetters are one and the same entity, owned and controlled by Pattni.
He said copies of CR12 from the Registrar of Companies showed that the two firms share the same physical and postal address, which he says he personally knows, belongs to Pattni.
Marriot moved to court after part of the Kanyotu family placed caveats on the land.
