NAIROBI, Kenya — The corruption case against former National Land Commission (NLC) chairperson Prof. Muhammad Swazuri continued on Wednesday at the Milimani Law Courts, with the prosecution cross-examining him over disputed land compensation linked to the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project.
The matter is being heard before Senior Principal Magistrate Eunice Nyutu and has now reached the defence stage.
Proceedings resumed on January 19, when Prof. Swazuri took the stand to defend his role in the approval of compensation for five parcels of land acquired for the multi-billion-shilling railway project.
Prosecutors questioned Swazuri on why the NLC approved compensation despite the absence of a valuation report and the inability of a government valuer to establish ownership of the affected land.
According to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the approvals were irregular and resulted in unlawful payments to private entities for land that was allegedly public property.
Prof. Swazuri was charged in August 2018 alongside 16 other individuals with conspiracy to commit an offence of corruption in connection with the SGR compensation scheme.
Investigators say the irregular payments caused a loss of approximately Sh221 million to the Kenya Railways Corporation.
The former NLC chair is accused of abusing his office by facilitating compensation in favour of Dasahe Investments and Olomotit Estate Limited.
The parcels in question had allegedly been identified as illegally acquired public land and their titles revoked by the NLC’s Review of Grants and Dispositions of Land Committee.
The prosecution maintains that the compensation was approved despite clear internal findings that the land did not qualify for payment under the law.
Swazuri has denied the allegations.
He is jointly charged with several former senior NLC officials, including Dr. Salome Ludenyi Munubi, who served as Director of the Valuation and Taxation Committee; Tom Chavangi Aziz, the Commission’s former Chief Executive Officer; and Francis Karimi Mugo, the former Director of Finance and Administration.
The case is among the highest-profile corruption prosecutions arising from land acquisition for the SGR, a flagship infrastructure project that has previously drawn scrutiny over procurement, compensation, and public finance management.
The hearing is scheduled to continue on Thursday as the defence case proceeds.
