The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Friday, April 11, 2025, made an application to continue detaining two Ministry of Lands officials and six accomplices involved in the forgery of title deeds.
The DCI has been holding the eight persons of interest for 10 days and is seeking an additional 14 days to continue probing the matter.
While seeking more days, the DCI detective, Sergeant Nicolaus Osuri Otieno, urged the court not to release the eight persons on bail, stating that their lives were in danger as they may be hurt by the victims who have been affected by their fraudulent schemes.
“Our intelligence indicates that the lives of the respondents herein may be in danger from the aggrieved and agitated persons and need to be protected through their continued detention,” Detective Sergeant Otieno told the court.
Appearing before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Kebabe Ondieki, Sergeant Otieno told the court that some of the contacted witnesses had raised concerns about their personal security, emanating from persons believed to be accomplices to the respondents.
Notably, he told the court there is a great need to protect the witnesses residing across various counties to enable them to make statements on the massive documents recovered from some of the eight persons without any fear or intimidation.
Further, he told the court that owing to the massive evidence they have recovered, they need more time to verify and authenticate all documents, seals, and stamps recovered and ascertain the criminal culpability of each person.
He told the court that they had recovered forgery seals and stamps purported to be of various government offices, including those of the Lands and Interior Ministries, departments, and agencies.
“We have recovered seals and stamps purported to be from state department for lands and physical planning and ministry of interior and coordination of National government, county governments, advocates, land surveyors, Kenya Revenue Authority, banks among others,” detective sergeant Otieno told the court.
Notably, Sergeant Otieno told the court that the Judiciary was not spared by the persons of interest, telling the court that so far they have recovered stamps purported to be for the High Court and Magistrates’ Court.
“The Judiciary has not been spared either, and several stamps purported to be for the High Court of Kenya – Family Division, Environment and Land Court, and the Magistrates’ Court were recovered,” Sergeant Otieno told the court.
However, the defense team, led by lawyer Felix Kiton, vehemently opposed the DCI’s request, stating that there are no compelling reasons in the application barring the court from releasing the respondents on bond or bail.
He told the court that the eight have been cooperating with police during the investigations since they were arrested on March 28, 2025, adding that they have fixed abodes and are not flight risks.
“Your Honour, we are humbly requesting you to admit the respondents on bail or bond because they have families and they are the breadwinners. We beg you to admit them on a reasonable cash bail of between Ksh 12,000 and Ksh 20,000 because they come from humble backgrounds,” lawyer Kiton told the court.
Meanwhile, State Prosecutor Evelyn Mutisya urged the court to grant the DCI the additional 14 days they are asking for, stating that releasing the persons of interest at this stage might interfere with the remaining investigations.
“We are praying the eight persons be detained further because if they are released on bail or bond now, they will interfere with witnesses,” lawyer Evelyn Mutisya told the court.
She also told the court that a laptop, eight mobile phones, one monitor, and three computer central processing units (CPUs) recovered from the suspects were forwarded to the Digital Forensic Investigations Unit for analysis, and they have not yet received reports from the forensic examiners.
Senior Principal Magistrate Ondieki said that he would deliver a ruling on the DCI’s application for additional days on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 9 a.m.
He directed that the eight persons be detained at Muthaiga and Ruaraka Police Stations till Monday.