Detectives have pounced on a suspect attempting to hijack a prime property in Nairobi’s Karen suburb worth KES 200 million, allegedly using a fraudulent paper trail to claim ownership from a deceased woman.

The arrest of Benick Otieno Okombo by the Land Fraud Investigations Unit (LFIU) underscores a persistent menace in Kenya’s real estate sector: the targeting of dormant or deceased estates to dispossess lawful buyers. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) moved in following a distress call from a woman who had legally purchased the land, only to find her ownership challenged by a stranger claiming a connection to the previous owner.

A Phantom Gift

The dispute centers on a high-value parcel originally bequeathed to the rightful owner—now deceased—by her late mother. According to investigators, the complainant had followed due process to purchase the land from this owner before her passing.

However, the transaction was thrown into jeopardy when Okombo surfaced with competing documents. The DCI revealed that Okombo allegedly crafted a "deed of gift" and transfer instruments, purporting that the deceased had handed the property to him gratis.

“Following the complaint, detectives swiftly launched an investigation, which revealed that the suspect... had crafted false documents purporting ownership of the land to be a gift from the deceased owner,” the DCI stated in their report.

The Investigation Trail

Detectives from the LFIU spent weeks reconstructing the timeline of ownership to separate fact from fiction. The probe focused on the authenticity of the transfer documents presented by Okombo. Upon forensic examination, the authorities concluded the documents were forgeries designed to subvert the lawful sale.

The findings were forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for independent review. The ODPP has since concurred with the police findings, sanctioning the following charges:

• Forgery: Creating false documents to deceive.
• Uttering False Documents: Presenting forged papers as genuine to authorities.

“The meticulous inquiry collected the necessary evidence... After an independent review, the ODPP supported the investigators’ findings,” the DCI noted.

With the file now approved for prosecution, Okombo is set to be arraigned, marking a significant victory for the LFIU in the battle to sanitize Nairobi’s land records and protect property investors from predatory cartels.