Fresh details have emerged in the investigations into the controversial murder of businessman Jacob Juma last May 5.
A brother of slain whistle-blower Juma has asked police to investigate billionaire Jimmy Wanjigi in connection with the unsolved murder.
Wanjigi also recorded a statement with Directorate of Criminal Intelligence detectives in June last year.
Francis Shiundu Juma, the victim’s elder brother, has requested the police to, among other things, investigate the business relationship between his brother and Wanjigi.
Shiundu also wants the police to investigate the relationship between Wanjigi and Juma’s widow – Miriam Wairimu Wambugu. “The family would want to know why he also helped to raise funds for the burial,” says Shiundu in his statement.
Wanjigi was among the individuals who took an active role in preparing for Juma’s burial, including mobilisation of resources. Juma was buried on May 15 in Mungore village, Bungoma.
Shiundu also wants the police to investigate claims that soon after the death, Wanjigi and Wairimu were searching for documents at Juma’s Karen home.
The 61-year-old retired accountant does not however disclose what documents Wanjigi and Wairimu were allegedly searching for at Juma’s Karen home. Shiundu lives in Kisumu with his family.
Juma was shot dead in mysterious circumstance as he drove to his Karen home on the night of May 5, 2016, and his vehicle found along Ngong Road. Police found Juma’s Mercedes Benz had stalled a few metres from the bypass heading to Ngong.
Shiundu made a statement with Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives on June 2.
Wanjigi is the CEO ofthe Kwacha Group of Companies, which has investments in real estate, agriculture, oil and manufacturing, among many other business ventures.
Wanjigi has been closely linked to the who’s who in government, political and business circles since the era of President Daniel Moi. He wielded much power during the government of President Mwai Kibaki. Wanjigi also remained powerful during the first months of the Uhuru Kenyatta government, but is reported to have fallen out with the Jubilee regime when he and a consortium of businessmen lost a deal to build the SGR funded by the Chinese government.
He counts as among his long-time friends former Vice President and Minister for Finance the late George Saitoti and even read the eulogy at the latter’s funeral on June 16, 2012.
In his statement recorded with the DCI at his Westlands offices on June 3, 2016, Wanjigi said Juma had told him he was afraid for his life. According to Wanjigi, a warning came from sources that Juma had in the National Intelligence Service.
Wanjigi said even though he had known Juma for more than 10 years, they were not business partners and neither did they socialise. “I did not socialise or do business with Jacob Juma,” Wanjigi said in his statement.
Wanjigi said that at 8pm on May 4, he spoke to Juma on the phone. He told investigators they spoke about a tweet by Juma on comments that the US Ambassador to Kenya, Robert Godec, had made on the IEBC. They however did not end the conversation as Juma was driving and promised to call Wanjigi back.
Wanjigi said on the early morning of May 6, he received a call from Nairobi lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi, who informed him that Juma had been shot.
Wanjigi said he told Abdullahi that he had not received the news and inquired if Juma’s wife was aware of the incident.
Wanjigi said he proceeded to Karen, to drop his daughter at school and, while at the unnamed school, he met Juma’s widow, whom he informed about the death of her husband.
Abdullahi has also recorded a statement with the police and said he last spoke to Juma a day before his death and that Juma was asking to borrow Sh200,000 from him.
Homicide detectives have since concluded their investigations and forwarded the file to Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko with recommendations to order an inquest.
This came after a former police officerfound an AK-47 said to have been used to shoot Juma in the hands of an interdicted police officer and an accomplice shot dead by police on May 25, 2016, at the Nyayo National Stadium Roundabout, Nairobi.
Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet said the weapon found on 28-year-old Police Constable Simon Mungai Muturi and 39-year-old Francis Kinuthia Njuguna was used in the murder of Juma.
Ballistics examiners at DCI Headquarters said the grooves on two spent cartridges recovered from the scene where Juma was killed had matched those on the gun found on the criminals.
The two are believed to be members of a four-man gang infamous for carjacking and kidnap that has terrorised residents of Nairobi for more than 10 months.
Muturi, a police officer interdicted on suspicion that he was involved in crime, is said to be the leader of the gang suspected of at least 20 cases of carjacking, kidnap and demands for ransom.
Muturi was interdicted from the police in 2012 on suspicion that he was involved in robberies. At the time he served serving at the Central Police Station in Mombasa.
Previously, the officer had served at Wilson Airport, the Ngong Police Station and the Nairobi Central Police Station. He came from Thigio village in Tigoni, Limuru.
Muturi’s accomplice Kinuthia came from Ndarugu village, Gatundu South. He is said to have been be a handcart-pusher turned criminal.
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