A high-profile Kenyan opposition lawmaker was on Wednesday charged in court with corruption in connection with a land transfer deal that cost a state firm 272-million shillings (about $3,5-million), police said.
William Ruto was charged together with a former commissioner of lands, Samuel Mwaita, in a Nairobi magistrate’s court with ”obtaining money by false pretences and handling false documents”, said a spokesperson for anti-corruption police.
The alleged fraud occurred in the sale of land on behalf of the Kenya African National Union (Kanu), the party that ruled Kenya from independence in 1963 until an opposition landslide 14 months ago.
”They denied the charges and were released on a bond of five million shillings [$64 500] each and a surety of similar amount. Their trial will start on May 26,” the spokesperson said.
He alleged that Ruto, a former Cabinet minister in the regime of retired president Daniel arap Moi, acting on behalf of Kanu, sold 28ha of land belonging to the government to the Kenya Pipeline Company in 2001.
Ruto is the first former minister in Moi’s government, accused of widespread graft, to face charges for crimes allegedly committed while in office.
Mwaita is also accused of facilitating the unlawful transaction. — Sapa-AFP