Thursday, May 25, 2023 –The 23-year-old young mother whose Belgian boyfriend had gifted her millions has lost the case to the State.
High Court sitting in Nairobi has ruled that the sh 102 million love gift sent to student Felista Nyamathira Njoroge by her billionaire boyfriend abroad is a proceed of money laundering.
Justice Esther Maina, on Thursday 25 May 2023, therefore, allowed the Kenyan government to confiscate the millions currently frozen in two Co-operative Bank accounts belonging to Ms Nyamathira.
The two bank accounts written in the name of Felista Nyamathira were frozen when investigating agencies started their exercise last year.
Judge Maina, therefore, has ordered that the funds be under the custody of the State since they are proceeds of criminal under-dealing between the source Marc De Mesel from Belgium and his Kenyan girlfriend.
Billionaire Marc De Mesel, a Belgian YouTube crypto personality, had not been able to explain how he makes the money.
In a landmark judgement, Justice Maina said the philanthropist had been given the opportunity to explain his side of the story and why he sends huge sums of money to his Kenyan lover who is still a student but he could not seize the opportunity to explain this.
Justice Maina further said, the evidence adduced in court by both the State and the two lovers showed that there was obvious money laundering activities.
Maina, therefore, saw it fit to grant the Asset Recovery Agency ARA their prayers to declare the funds as proceeds of crime and seize the accounts.
“I have analysed and gone through the evidence tendered by the boyfriend and it did not show the source of the funds that were transferred to the Kenyan girlfriend
“With the lack of proper disclosure of how the money is made and why it had been wired into the country, gives a conclusion that this is a money laundering network,” Judge Maina ruled.
This left the court with one option – to order that the money in the two bank accounts be forfeited to the authorities.
Ms Nyamathira hit the headlines in 2021 when she revealed that DCI detectives had intercepted a gift of money sent to her by a Belgian tycoon.
The young lady then complained of mistreatment at the hands of the State Criminal Investigation Department for withholding her sh102 million sent to her for her personal use.
