EACC wins case to recover Ksh.2.8 billion grabbed Karura Forest land

The ruling, delivered on October 23, 2025, concluded a case filed in 2007 by the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC), EACC’s predecessor.

Justice David Mwangi found that the land, valued at Ksh.2.8 billion and held under the name of Gigiri Court Limited, was public property. 

According to investigations by the EACC, the property was initially reserved for the Kenya Technical Teachers College (KTTC) but was fraudulently acquired by the late former Cabinet Minister Joseph Kamotho. 

In 1994, Kamotho is said to have sold the property through his company, Gigiri Court Limited, for Ksh.6 billion to Mandip Singh Amrit and Manjit Singh Amrit.

Further, EACC revealed that Kamotho's company undertook a private survey and illegally hived an additional 3.8 hectares from Karura Forest. Further, Gigiri Court Limited was issued a Certificate of Lease by Wilson Gacanja on September 6, 1995, for residential use.

In the case, EACC sought to declare all transactions for the suit property null and void, including the Certificate of Lease, and to order a permanent injunction restraining Kamotho's company and its agents from dealing with the land. 

In his judgment, Justice Mwangi concurred with the Commission's findings and declared the Certificate of Lease issued to Gigiri Court Limited null and void. 

"An order of permanent injunction be and is hereby issued against the 1st defendant (Gigiri Court Limited), its agents, servants or assigns restraining them form leasing, transferring, charging, taking possession, or in any other manner howsoever from dealing with Nairobi Block 91/386 otherwise than by transfer or surrender to the Government of Kenya," read part of the ruling. 

Further, he ordered that the land be reserved for public use and cannot be allocated for private use.

The court also found Wilson Gacanja and James Njenga, former Commissioners of Lands, to be held personally liable for overseeing the illegal transactions. 

Following the ruling, EACC CEO Abdi Mohamud revealed that the recovery of the land forms part of broader efforts to reclaim grabbed public assets.

EACC noted that the recovery is part of broader efforts to reclaim grabbed public assets.

Mohamud noted that over the past year, the commission has filed more than 80 recovery suits valued at Ksh.4.8 billion, with recent cases comprising the repossession of prime public land in Mombasa, Bungoma, and Migori, as well as the auction of properties linked to former Migori Governor Okoth Obado and a former Nairobi County official.

"The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission reaffirms its commitment to recovering corruptly acquired public property and ensuring that such assets are restored for the benefit of all Kenyans," Mohamud stated in a statement.