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The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) will today arraign in court five suspects linked to alleged forgery of documents used in extension of a lease for Nakuru War Memorial Hospital.

The five suspects include two senior officials at the Ministry of Lands, two directors and a broker even as they pursue a lawyer turned politician involved in the process.

Government documents

The ministry officials include Peter Nzuki, a deputy lands administration officer and Stephen Kihengo, an assistant lands administration director.

The hospital chairman Simon Mwangi and director Roger Joslyn were also arrested alongside Kipkemboi Marindich who played the role of a broker.

DCI officials conducted the arrests in Naivasha and Nakuru towns on Friday before taking the suspects to the Rift Valley Regional DCI headquarters for processing.

“They shall be charged with forgery of government documents and abuse of office among other charges,” said a DCI officer who declined to be named.

The Nakuru War Memorial Hospital which sits on a 24-acre parcel of land has been at the centre of an ownership dispute since October last year.

Colonial masters

The hospital established by the country’s colonial masters in 1921 has been operating under the management of a private company since the early 1980s.

The company, Nakuru War Memoral Hospital Limited, had obtained a 99 years’ lease in 2013, which was backdated and its expiry set for 2019.

Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika in a past interview said that the directors approached the county government of Nakuru for an extension but the request was rejected.

“The county government then had the idea of having the facility reverted back to the public since it is on a trust land. The directors were not of that idea,” said Kihika.

In a past interview, Dr Mwangi revealed that after the county government declined their request, they moved to the Ministry of Lands in Nairobi for assistance.

“After a back and forth we managed to have our lease extended by a further fifty years. We have all the legal documents including the previous and current lease title,” said Dr Mwangi.