AFC managing director Lucas Meso (R) during one of his visits to farms. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
State-owned Agricultural Finance Corporation has hired services of private investigators to pursue 13 farmers said to have connived with Lands Ministry officials to secure loans amounting to Sh22.7 million using fake documents.
AFC managing director Lucas Meso said the 13 farmers were advanced the money in 2004 and 2005 to grow sugarcane in Kapsabet, Nandi County.AFC, Meso said had secured a judgment in Eldoret High Court case numbers 100 to 106 of 2011 against the suspects and warrants of arrest against the same were issued.“We are pursuing individuals who have gone underground after presenting documents that were certified as genuine but do not reflect the actual situation on the ground,” Meso told Business Daily.He accused Lands officials in Nandi of colluding with the said farmers to defraud the corporation using non-existent title deeds.“This is an isolated case. When they heard that we had received money from Kenya Sugar Board to lend to cane farmers on their behalf, they started colluding with ministry of Lands officials who ascertained through several searches that the title documents presented as security were genuine,” Meso said.AFC is a state-owned money lending institution. It principally gives out loans to farmers who in return re-pay the cash at low interest rate.