The Judiciary has finally been allowed to repossess its piece of land in Kisumu which had been grabbed by a former area magistrate and sold to private developers.
The 2-acre piece of land worth 500 million shillings has been confirmed to have been grabbed by former Kisumu Chief Magistrate Charles Oyoo Kanyangi in 1994.
In the suit filed by the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC), the court was told that Kanyangi used his powers to acquire the land, before selling it to businessmen Aashish Vallabhdas Jethwa and Lalshi Karsan Ramji.
Kisumu High Court Judge Boaz Olao last week ruled that the land was illegally acquired by Mr Kanyangi who committed an offence in acquiring public land.
He threw out Kanyangi's argument that he was not aware that the land which is right next to the Kisumu Law Courts was part of the court and was misled by two officials from the provincial administration.
"He cannot hide behind the claim that he was tricked into aiding the improper allocation of court land.
"As a serving judicial officer in charge of Kisumu Law Courts, the most prudent thing would have been to refer the matter to the registrar who was the custodian of judiciary property,” he was quoted by the Standard .
The judge declared the title deeds issued to Mr Jethwa and Mr Ramji as null and void.
He directed a bank which had taken the documents as guarantee for loans given to them to get another way of ensuring the repayment.