Ngala on verge of being freed of fraud

Paul Waweru | NATION Former Nairobi Mayor John Ndirangu (left), Ms Vicky Nzalambi and former Lands minister Noah Katana Ngala in a Nairobi court on aUGUST 08, 2011. 

By PAUL OGEMBA pogemba@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, August 8  2011 at  22:00

In Summary

• Former minister takes advantage of amnesty offer by anti-graft unit for ill-gotten wealth

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Former Cabinet minister Katana Ngala has handed back the Nairobi mayoral house, freeing himself of corruption charges.

State counsel Patrick Kiage said on Monday he had been informed by the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) that Mr Ngala, who is a former Lands minister, had surrendered the City Council of Nairobi mayoral house and paid accrued rent from the time he acquired the property.

“I received the communication verbally from the KACC. They are working on written confirmation documents which, once received, will enable the Director of Public Prosecutions to make an application terminating the charges,” said Mr Kiage.

Mr Ngala was charged with three counts of conspiracy to defraud the City Council of Nairobi of land on which the mayor’s house stands, theft and uttering a false document.

He is said to have falsely claimed that the property belonged to him and transferred it to a third party, Ms Isabella Vicky Nzalambi.

He was charged with former Nairobi mayor John Ndirangu, Mr Eustas Mwangi, Mr Hashim Got Sat and Ms Nzalambi.

According to the settlement order between KACC and Mr Ngala and entered as a court decree, he was to pay the rent accumulated from the time he occupied the house, hand over the title deed and vacate the house by April 2011.

Mr Kiage confirmed that the former minister had paid rent arrears of Sh2 million from the time he acquired the property in February 2003, vacated the house and handed the title deed to the anti-graft agency.

Mr Ngala’s return of the property is likely to set a precedent, especially after the anti-graft agency issued a notice granting amnesty to individuals who repaid what they had fraudulently acquired.

In the notice, the commission offers amnesty to people who had committed economic crimes and are willing to repay the full value of what they stole, with 12 per cent interest.

The directive states that those seeking amnesty under the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes (Amnesty and Restitution) Regulations must make a “full and true” disclosure of the crime, including all property irregularly or illegally acquired.

They must also commit themselves to making reparations to any person affected by their deeds.

In return, the commission promises to drop investigations and the charges against them.

Mr Ngala and his co-accused will wait until August 23 for the State to confirm and approve the directive from KACC to make the application for their acquittals.