City lawyer Stephen Juma Ndeda was been charged with serious criminal offenses, including money laundering, forgery, and the use of forged documents.
Ndeda appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Boaz Ombewa at the Kahawa Law Courts, where he entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.
According to the prosecution, on June 20, 2023, at UBA Kenya Bank Limited, Upper Hill Branch in Nairobi, Ndeda allegedly attempted to conceal an amount of USD 52,490 (approximately Ksh 6,797,455) that was received from a Bulgarian company, Algans Eood.
He allegedly received these funds through his law firm’s account, Ndeda & Company Advocates, while being aware that the funds were proceeds of crime.
Furthermore, the court was informed that on the same day, Ndeda knowingly presented a forged sale agreement for land parcel number KJD/KEEKONYOKIE/ILKISUMET/3371 to Calvins Gwaro Nyamwange, falsely claiming it was a legitimate agreement signed by Andrew Immanuel Simuyu.
In another incident around June 14, 2023, Ndeda is accused of forging a sale agreement for the same land parcel, falsely asserting that it was a genuine document signed by the vendor.
Following the charges, Ndeda was released on a bond of Ksh 1 million or a cash bail of Ksh 200,000, pending the hearing and resolution of his case.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the agreements indicated that Ndeda & Company Advocates was representing both the vendor and the purchaser, with the property being sold for Ksh 60 million, requiring a Ksh 5 million deposit within 90 days.
However, the funds were transferred from Algans Eood, a company whose activities raised suspicions of money laundering and possible arms smuggling due to its connection to an entity engaged in arms trading.
The DCI also revealed that the funds wired to Ndeda’s Nairobi bank account were promptly reversed due to non-compliance with the bank’s internal policies and regulations concerning suspicious transactions.
In addition to the current charges, Ndeda is embroiled in a land grabbing scandal involving GA Insurance.
The insurance company accused Ndeda and several associates of illegally occupying land registered as LR number 209/10601/12.
The dispute escalated when alleged hired goons, allegedly working for Ndeda and businessman Abdub Diba Boru, forcibly evicted GA Insurance staff from the property.
Despite GA Insurance’s legitimate claim to the land, the alleged illegal occupants, led by Ndeda and Boru, reportedly colluded to undermine the company’s rights to the property.
The insurance firm, which claims to have purchased the land from Economic Industries Limited in 2005, faced challenges in reclaiming their rightful ownership, including reported instances of physical violence against their workers during the attempted eviction.
The situation deteriorated further when it was discovered that title deeds held by Ndeda’s associates were potentially fraudulent.
The DCI and GA Insurance have raised serious concerns about the integrity of the land titles involved, leading to ongoing investigations into Ndeda’s activities and the broader implications of land fraud and corruption within the Nairobi real estate sector.
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