Court Acquits Amos Kimunya and Co-Accused in Land Purchase Case

Former Finance Minister Amos Kimunya and three co-accused have been acquitted in a long-running corruption case linked to the controversial purchase of land by a state agency.

Milimani Anti-Corruption Chief Magistrate Harrison Barasa acquitted Kimunya alongside former Lands Commissioner Sammy Mwaita and businesspersons James Ndegwa and Susan Wangari Ndegwa under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code, after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The case relates to the purchase of a parcel of land in Nyandarua by the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), in a transaction that had been questioned over alleged irregularities and abuse of office.

Kimunya, who served as Finance Minister at the time, was accused alongside senior public officials and private individuals of facilitating the alleged irregular acquisition of the land at an inflated price, to the detriment of public funds.

However, in his ruling, Magistrate Barasa held that the prosecution did not establish that any criminal wrongdoing had occurred.

The court noted that although one of the accused persons was an employee of the Ministry of Lands, there was no documentary evidence presented to show that the disputed parcel had been registered in the name of the Ministry of Agriculture or had been formally allocated to it at the time of the transaction.

Further, the court observed that the mandate of the Agricultural Finance Corporation allowed it to acquire both movable and immovable property, and therefore the purchase of land from a private entity could not, in itself, be deemed unlawful.

On the charge of abuse of office and fraud, the court found that the evidence presented fell short of the legal threshold required to secure a conviction.

“The evidence before the court does not prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused persons,” the court held.

The court further found that the third and fourth accused persons could not be linked to the alleged offences, citing lack of evidence demonstrating their involvement in the transaction.