A court has ruled that the original title deed for a piece of land in Muthaiga, Nairobi, worth Sh300 million belongs to Equity Group CEO James Mwangi.

Documents presented before trial Judge David Mugo by prosecutors on Friday show that Muthaiga Luxury Homes, which Mwangi owns, holds the original title to the disputed property.

Senior State counsel Allan Kamau told the judge the Ministry of Lands and the Attorney General back Mwangi as the owner of the 20-acre tract that the estate of former President Daniel Moi is claiming.

The ownership dispute involves Mwangi, United States International University-Africa, Maestro Connections Health System and the Moi estate.

Moi’s lawyers earlier told the court that Mwangi’s acquisition of the property was fraudulent.

False claim

But Kamau dismissed the claim as false and presented documents showing that Muthaiga Luxury Homes holds the original title to the property.

Detectives, he said, had established that Mwangi had the original title and that President Moi used a provisional title deed to sell the property to Maestro.

Mwangi told the court that when police learned that his company had the original title to the land, they should have reported back to the Ministry of Lands not to issue a provisional title for the property.

Mwangi confirmed to the court that he has the original title and that Moi legally sold the land to him and that he had not seen a caveat placed on the land before or after he purchased it from Moi.

In the sale transaction, he said, Moi was represented by lawyer Samson Omwanza and his agent Andrew Sunguli.

In March 2013, Mwangi told the court, he visited Moi at his Kabarnet Gardens home in Nairobi to thank him for selling him the land.

He said Moi did not complain about the process and that the former President did not raise any alarm about not receiving the Sh300 million.