Lawyer Paul Muite pays Sh24 million to settle 17-year land dispute

Lawyer Paul Muite has settled a land case filed against him in 1999. [George Njunge, Standard]

Former Kabete MP Paul Muite has paid Sh24.5 million to settle a land dispute that has been running for 17 years.

The complainants withdrew the charges after Muite, who had been charged in his capacity as chairman of a private company, Athi Holdings, paid them the full amount.

Magistrate Francis Andayi, who discharged Muite, said he considered the application by the accused, which was not opposed by State prosecutors.

Muite said he decided to pay the complainants because he was involved as a director of Athi Holdings.

The complaints, Mwana Mwireri Rironi and a Naivasha farmer's company, said Muite paid them Sh8 million first and then cleared the balance of Sh16 million.

The case has been pending in a Nairobi court since July 1999.

Muite was charged on July 23, 1999, with six counts of stealing money from Mwana Mwireri Rironi and Naivasha Farmers Company.

The offence was said to have been committed between December 1992 and December 1993. He faced an alternative charge of obtaining money through fraud.

The proceedings had been suspended by the High Court in 2002 after Muite filed a constitutional application challenging the trial.