Court orders forfeiture of Sh426.8m assets linked to former Kilifi land registrar

A former Kilifi Principal Land Registrar and his wife have lost assets worth Sh426.85 million to the State after the High Court found that they had failed to satisfactorily explain how the wealth was acquired.

Justice Benjamin Mwikya Musyoki issued the forfeiture order on September 18, bringing the latest stage of a long-running Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) recovery case against Felix Mecha Nyakundi, his wife Stellah Nyaboke Otwori and companies linked to the family.

The case covered wealth and financial activity between January 2013 and March 2024.

The court found that the assets ultimately traced and found unexplained included money held in bank and mobile-money accounts, land, vehicles and cash seized during an EACC search.

The ruling is significant because EACC did not have to prove a separate criminal offence before seeking recovery.

Justice Musyoki said the commission only needed to establish that the assets were not consistent with the public servant's known legitimate income. The burden then shifted to the defendants to explain how they acquired the wealth.

“The plaintiff, in seeking to recover unexplained assets, is not required to prove corrupt acts on the part of the public servant concerned,” the judge said.

What the State is taking

The forfeiture covers 18 parcels of land, three motor vehicles and funds held in various bank and mobile-money accounts.

The properties are spread across Nairobi, Mombasa, Lamu and Kilifi.

They include parcels in Chakama Phase II, Mavueni B Settlement Scheme and other locations, as well as four Nairobi properties registered to The Bantu Hotel and Resort Company Limited.

The three vehicles ordered forfeited are registered to Otwori.

The court also ordered that remaining credit balances in the affected accounts be transferred to the Government through EACC.

A further Sh4.26 million in cash seized during an EACC search was also declared unexplained and forfeited.

The final forfeiture figure was Sh426,851,982.04.

How the case grew

The case dates back to an EACC investigation into Nyakundi's wealth while he was serving in the Lands Department.

An earlier court ruling in November 2025 preserved the disputed properties, vehicles and accounts while the recovery case proceeded.

At that stage, the court record listed multiple bank and M-Pesa accounts belonging to Nyakundi, Otwori and companies associated with them.

EACC had initially traced transactions and assets running into hundreds of millions of shillings.

The commission's investigation covered transactions involving bank accounts, mobile-money accounts, landed property, vehicles and cash.

The High Court ultimately ordered forfeiture of the assets that it found had been traced and remained unexplained.

The judge declined to order the defendants to separately surrender the full value of all queried transactions because much of the money had already been traced into property and other assets being forfeited.

“I am minded to forfeit what has been traced rather than going for restitution,” Justice Musyoki said.

Salary versus wealth

A central issue in the case was the gap between Nyakundi's legitimate income and the value of assets and transactions under scrutiny.

EACC's case focused on wealth accumulated during his public service career, including the period when he served as a Principal Land Registrar.

The commission argued that the scale of the assets could not be reconciled with his known legitimate income.

The court accepted the unexplained-assets case in respect of the property, money and vehicles ultimately forfeited.

However, the ruling does not amount to a criminal conviction against Nyakundi or his wife.

It is a civil asset-recovery proceeding under Kenya's anti-corruption laws.

That distinction matters because the legal test in an unexplained-wealth case is different from a criminal prosecution, where the State would have to prove a specific offence to the required criminal standard.

Earlier preservation orders

EACC first secured preservation orders over Nyakundi's wealth in March 2024.

At the time, the commission said its preliminary investigations had identified 106 properties and 17 high-end vehicles, alongside Sh4.26 million in cash seized during searches.

The preservation orders were intended to prevent the assets from being sold, transferred or otherwise dealt with while investigations and recovery proceedings continued.

The later recovery case narrowed the assets that were ultimately traced and ordered forfeited.

The November 2025 ruling also listed land in Kilifi, Mombasa, Lamu and Nairobi, as well as accounts belonging to Nyakundi, Otwori and the companies.

What happens next

With the latest judgment, the forfeited assets are to be transferred to the Government through EACC in accordance with the court's orders.

Nyakundi and Otwori were also ordered to jointly and severally meet EACC's legal costs.

The judgment adds to EACC's continuing efforts to recover assets it says were acquired without a satisfactory legitimate explanation.

It also underlines an important point in Kenya's asset-recovery framework: the State does not always have to wait for a criminal conviction before seeking the recovery of wealth that a public official cannot satisfactorily account for.

For the former registrar and his family, the September 18 judgment turns years of investigation and preservation orders into a final forfeiture order over more than Sh426 million in assets.

About the Author

Maureen Onyango is a journalist passionate about storytelling, life coaching and spiritual lessons. She studied at the Kenya Institute of Management and enjoys telling stories that inform, inspire and empower communities.