His should have been a happy comeback to his homeland after having lived and worked hard in the US.
But Captain Kariuki Wachira’s return to Kenya,where he had hoped to savour the fruits of his investments made while abroad,has turned into a nightmare.
His Sh25 million real estate investment that could have been the first of many is now the subject of a land ownership tussle after he found an imposter had sold off the property.
The property is now valued at Sh65 million.
Captain Kariuki Wachira,who claims to be the owner of a house in Nyari estate Nairobi,which is at the centre of a Sh25million fraud case.
Wachira,who lives with his family and works in America as a pilot,bought a prime piece of land in the up market Nyari estate,in 2005.
Dream home
He constructed a double storey four-bedroom house,complete with a garage and staff quarters.
It was the dream home he hoped to retire to when he returned with his family.
Little did he know someone would take advantage of his absence to transfer the property and sell his house.
'It saddens me that my efforts and hard work have been reduced to forged documents. Someone has the audacity to steal such an investment that does not belong to him. No way!' an angry Wachira said.
This comes just weeks after The Standard highlighted fears expressed by Kenyans abroad that some corrupt Government officials have been conniving with impostors to sell off their property.
Yesterday’s edition of The Standard’s CCI pullout magazine highlighted a story of a 70-year-old widow whose flat in Eastleigh estate was fraudulently transferred to someone else while she was holidaying in the US.
Valid documents
According to Wachira,who has all documentary evidence,trouble began in 2007,when a Mr Michael Mwangi Ngugi claimed to have been given power to act on behalf of Monicah James (Wachira’s wife) using a forged power of attorney alleged to have been drawn by a city advocate,who has since denied the claims.
Ngugi as ‘vendor’,with the use of the power of attorney and through another advocate prepared ownership transfer agreement documents on behalf of Monica.
But the transfer ‘agreement’ lists the wrong passport number of Monica though that did not stop the transfer of ownership of the property to a Mr Joseph Muriithi Kanyita (purchaser) at Sh4.2 million.
'In fact,all these people share an office,' Wachira said,showing the passport numbers of his wife and voluminous documents of the house in contest.
Later this year,after the alleged fraudulent transfer was sealed,Mr Kanyita said he had obtained a loan using the house as security and then sold the house to Mr John Maina Mburu for Sh25 million,of which Sh20 million was taken as redemption amount to settle the bank loan.
The house in Nyari estate Nairobi,which Captain Kariuki Wachira says is his.
Sealed deal
After the sale agreement deal was sealed in January,according to Wachira,Mburu moved into the house and chased away Wachira’s caretakers.
While in the US,Wachira had the incident reported to Nyari Police Post,but no action was taken.
'I called the station and even sent my guards to report the incident,but no one was willing to assist,' Wachira said.
Wachira then took the first flight home to confront the ‘new owner’ of his house.
'It was a scuffle here. I cannot allow anyone to sit on my sweat,whatever the deal was or whatever happened,it doesn’t concern me,' he says.
Protect new owner
He arrived at the locked gate and banged on it,but he was shocked to find police were ready to protect the ‘new owner’.
'I am so mad the police sent officers today to block me from gaining access to my compound,' he said.
'They are partisan,why didn’t they do the same when I called that someone had invaded my property,' Wachira asks,almost in tears.
Wachira faults the Land Ministry officials for conniving with cons to doctor documents that might have been used to defraud him of his property.
Although Lands Minister James Orengo has initiated an intensive investigation on senior staff members at the ministry,who are allegedly participating in the issuance of fake title deeds,Wachira and others who have been kicked out of their property are left clutching original papers,but in the cold.
'If the Government cannot protect us from these cartels,it means there is no need to invest at home,' Wachira said.