By Mwanahabari Reporter
The validity of the signed transfer documents that was used to apportion part of the former Keiyo North MP, the late William Murgor’s estate worth more than Ksh 2 billion to some of his children among them the sitting area MP James Murgor were forged, a High Court sitting in Eldoret was told today.
Emmanuel Kenga Karisa, a documentary examination expert who while testifying before Lady Justice Hellen Omondi who has since been promoted to Court of Appeal said the signatures on some of transfer documents indicating how beneficiaries were to share the deceased’s estate were different from the author of the said documents.
Karisa who retired as Commissioner of police attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Nairobi six years ago currently practices as a private document examiner based at Wilson Airport.
Document examiner speaks
“I am a trained document examiner with 30 years experience having studied in Israel and France, and I have carried out investigations related to forged documents in various parts of the country and globally while serving at CID before I retired in 2015,” he told the Judge.
He told the court that when he was contracted by the lawyer of one of parties in the late former MP’s succession dispute to study and analyze the validity of the transfer documents of property, he discovered that indeed there was fraud involved in the sharing of the estate.
The former sleuth was testifying in a succession case where the children of former Keiyo North MP William Murgor are fighting over the share of his multi-billion shillings estate that is spread in Elgeyo Marakwet and Uasin Gishu Counties.
The property in dispute, which was left behind by the long-serving Kanu MP before his death in 2006, includes agricultural land and prime plots in Iten and Eldoret towns respectively.
William had five wives
William was married to five wives: Soti Murgor, who had five children; Rosa Kimoi (nine children); Rosalina Murgor (six children); Anne Murgor (eight children) and Philomena Murgor who had one child.
The late Murgor’s first born son, James, who is also the area MP, has been sued by his sisters and step-siblings for allegedly failing to equitably share their father’s vast estate.
The case has been filed by Enit Murgor who is based in the United State of America who has accused her elder brother of discriminating against other siblings in share of their deceased father’s estate.
Lawyer Philip Murgor, who is James’ cousin, is representing the MP’s sisters and step siblings who claim to have discriminated against in the share of their father’s property and accused the MP for apportioning himself the lion’s share of estate at the expense of the rest of the beneficiaries.
Granted powers
During the last hearing in March last year, the MP was hard pressed to produce evidence that showed he had been granted power of attorney to manage his father’s vast estate.
The court heard that documents and signatures used by the MP to apportion himself lion share of the property were forged.
The MP was also at pains to explain to the court how he allocated himself prime agricultural land in Kapkoi village in Keiyo North that is worth sh 56 million
The court heard that documents and signatures used by the MP to apportion himself a large share of the property were forged.
Current market value is Ksh45 million
“It is true that I have 70 acres of land, which I was gifted by my late father as the first-born son in the family, whose current market value is Sh56 million,” argued James during cross-examination by Lawyer Philip Murgor.
Philip had told Justice Omondi that the document the MP was relying on purporting to be a power of attorney bestowed on him by his father had been forged.
Justice Omondi directed that the case be on November 1 when she will set the date for Judgment after all key witnesses testified in the succession matter.