By David Ochami

One of the two men at the centre of the sale of an agricultural land to Nairobi City Council for a cemetery has disowned the deal

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Authorities yesterday grilled two men — Mr Maina Chege and Henry Kilonzi Musyoki — implicated in the controversial sale of the 120-acre piece in Athi River.

The day-long interrogation yielded little, prompting committee chairman Shakeel Shabir to say "this thing is more complex than Goldenberg. It involves more people than we know." He was referring to the Byzantine export compensation swindle created by businessman Kamlesh Pattni in the 1990s.

The committee also questioned former Nairobi Town Clerk John Gakuo. Later, Shabir said the retired administrator’s testimony "took us in circles without yielding much".

Earlier, some parliamentary staff tried to bar reporters from the session by declining to disclose the venue despite an order by the chair to let in journalists.

The deal has been steeped in controversy over who between Chege and Musyoki sold the land to City Hall and whether the piece of land, initially classified as agricultural land, was overvalued to defraud the council.

On Tuesday, Musyoki dismissed documents linking him to the sale as fake.

Musyoki, an aviation engineer, claimed his life was in danger after the testimony, as it emerged that some of his advisors had unexplained financial transaction with Chege after the sale. Evidence uttered at the interrogation also showed that Chege’s lawyers withdrew Sh117 million from his account without authority.

Chege claims the lawyers swindled him of Sh129 million in the land deal, but the committee dismissed the allegations as unreliable.

He also asked to be compensated for loss of money and attending the session.