Former Lands Minister Amos Kimunya has strongly defended himself against allegations of fraudulent disposal of public land, telling the court he acted lawfully and in the public interest.

Taking the stand in his defence, Kimunya dismissed the prosecution's case as unfounded, arguing that no credible witness had directly implicated him in any wrongdoing. Out of 17 prosecution witnesses, nine confirmed he neither contacted them nor interfered with the transaction at the heart of the case.

Kimunya, who also served as Leader of Majority in the National Assembly, is facing charges alongside Lilian Wangiri Njenga and Junghae Wainaina, an official with Midlands Limited.

The case revolves around a 2005 transaction in which 25 acres of land belonging to the Njabini Agricultural Training Centre were allegedly irregularly allocated to Midlands Ltd, a company said to be farmer-owned and valued at about Ksh 60 million.

The former minister insisted he had no role in disposing of the land and pointed out that the legal trustees of the property were the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture not Lands. He added that his office did not participate in the transaction.

“This is a serious fraud charge, yet I have spent most of my professional life fighting economic crimes,” Kimunya said, citing his anti-corruption work since the early 1990s. He told the court he had been involved in drafting fraud legislation, trained in economic crimes investigation in London, and served on a national taskforce reviewing economic crimes under former Attorney General Amos Wako.

“There is no evidence of fraud. Nothing to show that I did anything unlawful or that the state lost any land. This case is unfortunate and, in my view, politically driven,” he said.

The land in question was part of a 75-acre public parcel under the Njabini Agricultural Training Centre, a government institution aimed at promoting agricultural skills among farmers. Kimunya explained that Midlands Limited was established by local farmers in Nyandarua seeking to process and add value to their produce, not as a vehicle for personal enrichment.

The hearing continues, with Kimunya maintaining his innocence and dismissing the case as weak and politically motivated.