Akinyi, former MP cleared of case in India
By Cyrus Ombati
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Wednesday, 3rd June 2009
Controversial businesswoman Joyce Akinyi and former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala have been cleared of their case in India.
Ms Akinyi told The Standard from India they had been given back their Sh12 million that was held by the Indian authorities when they were arrested last year.
“God is great, they have returned our money. We are very happy,” said an excited Akinyi.
She said Mr Wanjala went to collect the money from the airport where it had been kept since last year.
Akinyi said they would go shopping in several Asian countries, including Dubai before returning home. She said a local court ordered on Monday they be given back the money.
“The commissioner here ordered the revenue officers to give us the money and they have done that,” she said.
The two were arrested in New Delhi on October 10, last year after they failed to declare the money.
Source-The Standard
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Wanjala-I can marry many wives
Sunday, April 19 2009
Former Budalangi MP Raphael Wanjala (left), Bumula MP Wakoli Bifwoli (center) and Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo (right) dance during a rally at Port Victoria to welcome Wanjala back home after six months in an Indian jail.
Polygamy is the way to go. That seemed to be the top message former assistant minister Raphael Wanjala had for his Budalang’i constituency supporters during a homecoming rally on Sunday.
And for the first time in public, Mr Wanjala said he was having an affair with Ms Joyce Akinyi — whom he referred to as Teresa — under customary law, and asked the media to keep off his private life.
Mr Wanjala said any 18-year-old Kenyan had a right to marry a woman of his choice without being condemned, adding that the law allowed a man to marry under church, customary and AG’s chambers.
Outside marriage
“Kenyatta had five wives. The father of US president Barack Obama had several wives. I can marry as many wives as I want. No man can claim he does not have a girlfriend outside marriage,” he declared.
The former MP added that President Obama’s mother was the third and her son became the US president, arguing that leadership is not about how many wives one had.
Mr Wanjala added that in 1997, he had two wives and that did not stop him from being Budalang’i MP He insisted that his relationship with Ms Akinyi was not unusual.
“I did not meet an underage girl. I did not rape her. I talked to her and she accepted me and therefore the media should stay away from my private life,” he said amidst cheers.
His wives Josephine and Veronica were not present. And Ms Akinyi, who had eagerly been expected to grace the occasion, did not show up.
Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo also later said he had three wives, and polygamy should not be trivialised.
Feeling, perhaps, that he had done justice to polygamy as a legitimate institution, Mr Wanjala turned to his stint behind bars in an Indian jail. He told residents how he was arrested while carrying Sh12 million in India, insisting that he was on a business trip.
At the start, there was confusion after it emerged that the provincial administration had cancelled the meeting and sent three lorries full of riot police from Kakamega.
Area DC Mabeya Mogaka said he was not aware that the meeting had been banned and after some hours the anti-riot police from Kakamega left Port Victoria.
Police on the ground who talked to Nation on condition of anonymity said some hate SMSs had been sent to the provincial administration warning of bloodshed if the meeting was allowed to go on. However, the meeting ended peacefully.
Being a politician, Mr Wanjala did not end matters with the jail story. He asked politicians to stop 2012 succession politics and concentrate on improving the lives of Kenyans.
But birds of a feather tend to flock together. MPs Cyrus Jirongo (Lugari), Wakoli Bifwoli (Bumula), Eugene Wamalwa (Saboti) and former Webuye MP Saulo Busolo quickly concurred, saying political squabbles were creating a bad impression of the country and keeping off investors.
The Bumula MP accused some politicians for taking the President and the Prime Minister hostage at the expense of serving Kenyans.
Mr Jirongo accused the Government of selling public resources and parastatals to finance its activities and wondered what they would sell in future to build roads.
Source-The Nation
Love brewed in deep west and PM higher love
Magistrate issues arrest warrant for Akinyi
Tuesday, 7th April 2009
A court has ordered the arrest of businesswoman Joyce Akinyi, two weeks after she returned from an Indian jail.
Kibera Senior Resident Magistrate Cosmas Maundu issued the warrant after Ms Akinyi failed to appear in court to answer to charges.
She is accused of creating disturbance at Deep West Resort club in Lang’ata, Nairobi, last Tuesday.
It is alleged she assaulted her estranged husband Anthony Chinedu, calling him a drug dealer and throwing bottles of beer at him.
Court prosecutor Joseph Musyoka requested for a mention of the case in two weeks, saying the file was forwarded to the AG for advice.
The court heard that police could not trace Akinyi at her known residence. Chinedu is listed as the first witness in the case. Others are to be stated. The two have hogged headlines over love gone sour, which has culminated in battle over how to share family property.
Akinyi spent six months in an Indian jail, where she was jailed alongside former Assistant Minister Raphael Wanjala.
Meanwhile, a warrant issued for the arrest of Wanjala has been lifted.
Assault charges
On Monday, Nairobi Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei lifted the warrant after he was informed the former MP did not attend court because he was in an Indian jail from last October and only returned last week.
Wanjala was being sought to answer to assault charges. He allegedly attacked NTV cameraman Mustafa Mwalimu on July 8, last year at The Stanley Hotel, Nairobi, after being filmed in connection with a love triangle involving Akinyi.
He denied the charges on July 27, and was released on a cash bail of Sh20,000 pending hearing and conclusion of the case.
However, before the trial could kick off, Wanjala and Akinyi travelled to India, where they were arrested and arraigned in court.
His advocate Paul Onduso informed the court that when he travelled, his passport was confiscated and could therefore not travel home.
State prosecutor Robert Kyaa objected to the lifting of the warrant of arrest.
“His passport was retained by authorities in India pending finalisation of Customs matters, with which he was charged. He learnt of the warrant and expressed desire to present himself before court,” Mr Onduso said. Mutembei lifted the warrant and directed the case be heard on May 18.
Source-The Standard
Season 2 of Akinyi Chinedu Drama: Straight from Jail
Season 2 of Akinyi Chinedu Drama
Chinedu, Akinyi soap resumes
BY BERNARD MOMANYI
03/31/09
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 31 – Drama unfolded at a city restaurant on Tuesday when controversial businesswoman Joyce Akinyi confronted her estranged husband Antony Chinedu, slapped him and hurled insults at him.
Ms Akinyi, who arrived in Kenya at the weekend from India where she spent six months in jail alongside former Assistant Minister Raphael Wanjala, lashed out at the Nigerian as he was speaking to reporters and went on to accuse him of being responsible for the troubles she underwent in India.
She was incensed by Mr Chinedu’s remarks to journalists that the disputed property “must be shared equally among them.”
“Akinyi has been my wife for 10 years. We accumulated property with her, there is no problem in sharing it. That is what I want, but she does not,” Mr Chinedu said before Ms Akinyi confronted him and started insulting him.
“Chinedu has been celebrating because I was away. He took over my property when I was in India but now that I am back, he must vacate,” she said.
The latest controversy between the two follows Mr Chinedu’s decision to lease the New Deep West Resort Club to a local investor.
When asked why he leased the property, Mr Chinedu said: “This is our business. There was nothing wrong in leasing it because it had been neglected. Workers had not been paid and the place was in a total mess.”
On her part, Ms Akinyi said Mr Chinedu was trying to defraud her of the property, which is one among many at the centre of an ownership tussle between the two.
On arrival from India, Ms Akinyi said that she found the property under the management of a businessman, whom she has vowed to evict.
On Tuesday morning, police officers from various units stormed the premise and conducted a raid, in an apparent search for contraband goods.
Lang’ata divisional Police chief Patrick Mang’oli said that they were looking for various items, including illicit drugs.
“We were looking for many things, including drugs but in the process we have found some motorcycle tyres which have been surrendered to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for verification,” he said.
During the search that lasted three hours, Mr Chinedu and Ms Akinyi – who have divorced proceedings pending in court – were present.
The police later towed away two vehicles, which were found parked in the compound.
“These vehicles do not appear genuine and that is why we have taken them for further inspection,” Mr Mang’oli said.
Ms Akinyi and Mr Wanjala were detained at New Delhi’s airport in September last year for failing to declare Sh7.5 million that they were carrying in hard cash.
Ms Akinyi said that they were both released following the intervention of former Foreign Affairs Minister Raphael Tuju.
“It is Tuju who helped us, it is not Prime Minister Raila Odinga or Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula,” she said and narrated how she ‘led a comfortable life in the Indian jail’.
“Indian jails are very nice. I was in a self-contained room. That place is not like Kenya. There is no congestion there and we even ate good food,” she said in reference to the time she spent at India’s largest Prison in Tihar.
Source-Capital News
Raphael Wanjala back from Indian Jail
By Cyrus Ombati
Sunday, 29th March 2009
Former assistant minister Raphael Wanjala (centre) arrives at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Sunday.
Former Assistant Minister MP Raphael Wanjala jetted back into the country after six months in an Indian jail.
And the former Budalang’i MP said he was happy to be back home. Yesterday Wanjala arrived alone, leaving behind his girlfriend and businesswoman Joyce Akinyi in Entebe, Uganda. But he said she was to arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) last night.
“I am very happy to be back home. I have learnt many things out there and I will share with you later,” he said. Dressed in a cream suit, a gold neck chain and black shoes, the excited former legislator arrived at JKIA at around 4pm.
A handful of supporters welcomed him and escorted him to his car. The crowd mobbed him as he stepped out of the lounge with some hugging and kissing him. Others encouraged photographers to take his pictures and publish them.
He told journalists his experience outside Kenya was bad, adding he felt unwell.
“Home is best and I am happy because I am here. I am feeling unwell may be because of change of weather,” he said.
Mr Wanjala said Akinyi remained in Entebbe because her flight had been delayed and would travel by road.
He, however, did not want to discuss much on their relationship, as he rolled up his car window and sped off.There was anxiety at the airport as journalists waited for their arrival. The two left India on Saturday and landed in Entebbe, where they spent the night before connecting to Nairobi. And even as he arrived, Wanjala will be headed to the courts where he faces a criminal offence. A warrant of arrest has been issued against him, but police did not arrest him.
Any Link
It is also not clear under which circumstances the two were allowed to leave India, where they were arrested in October with undeclared Sh7.5 million. They had left Kenya through Uganda and entered India from Dubai, carrying the money in US dollars.
The two were held at Tihar Prison as New Delhi revenue intelligence investigated any link between the cash and illegal business. They were, however, released on Sh600,000 bail each, following intervention by Kenyan authorities. But they also needed more than Sh240,000 legal fee, and Wanjala’s family made efforts to raise the money. According to Indian laws, more than Sh375,000 must be declared on entry and certificate issued.
In Nairobi, a criminal trial awaits Wanjala for allegedly assaulting a journalist. The case pending has been adjourned several times.
And Akinyi has a divorce suit pending in court between her and her Nigerian husband Anthony Chinedu.
The two have a legal battle over multi-million shilling estate and the custody of their children.
On Saturday, curious Kenyans who turned up at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to get a glimpse of the two got a rude shock when the couple failed to show up.
Hordes of journalists, their cameras ready for action to capture the dramatic arrival, waited with bated breath at the International Arrivals terminal when the Emirates plane from Dubai that was reportedly carrying the couple touched down at 3.50pm.
But hope for great photos faded when minutes turned into an hour without any trace of the couple and word filtered in that Wanjala and his sweetheart could have avoided coming through Nairobi.
Former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala is mobbed by supporters at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, after his arrival from India Sunday where he, and partner Joyce Akinyi, spent six months in custody for not declaring Sh7.5 million.
Source-The Standard
Wanjala and Akinyi back in jail
By MICHAEL MUGWANG’A
Sunday, November 16 2008
Former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala and business woman Joyce Akinyi’s tribulations in India appear to be far from over.
It emerged on Sunday that the lovers are back in jail after a court in New Delhi cancelled bail granted to them last week.
Indian authorities reportedly cancelled bail after discovering some anomalies on Ms Akinyi’s Kenyan passport and the two were on Wednesday evening taken back to Tihar Prison, India’s second largest.
A prison spokesman, Mr Sunil Gupta confirmed to the Nation last night that the two were back in custody.
“The ex-MP and the lady were in custody on Friday and I think they are still there. I will check and confirm to you tomorrow (Monday),” Mr Gupta said.
Immigration sources in Nairobi said Indian authorities had raised questions over the authenticity of Ms Akinyi’s passport.
“Indian authorities raised questions about the authenticity of Ms Akinyi’s passport. While the picture on the passport is hers, other details including the name raised doubts over its authenticity,” said an official who could not be named.
Mr Wanjala’s passport was said to be in order. The two, however, face joint earlier charges, which probably explains why Mr Wanjala is also back in Tihar.
Mr Wanjala and Ms Akinyi, who is at the centre of a messy divorce case and a multi-million property wrangle with her Nigerian husband Antony Chinedu, had been released on bail on November 7 after a month in custody.
The high-flying couple was arrested at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport on October 8 for not declaring the equivalent of Sh7.50 million in US dollars. The laws of that country require one to declare amounts of money above Sh375,000.
Sources in New Delhi say the two had been betrayed to the police by partners they had been doing undisclosed business with.
A warrant of arrest has been since issued for Mr Wanjala in Kenya after he failed to appear in court to answer charges of assaulting NTV cameraman Mustafa Mwalimu in June.
The former assistant minister denied the charge and is on Sh20,000 bail.
Source-The Nation
Wanjala and Akinyi families raise bail
By MICHAEL MUGWANG’A
October 28 2008 at 21:35
The families of former MP Raphael Wanjala and Joyce Akinyi have finally raised the money required to bail the two out of an Indian jail.
But it may take another 10 days to secure their release from Tihar Prison in New Delhi where they have been languishing for 22 days.
His girlfriend
The families raised Sh1.560,000 to bail them out of India’s second largest jail.
Mr Wanjala is the former Budalang’i MP while his girlfriend is a Nairobi businesswoman at the centre of a property wrangle with her estranged Nigerian husband Antony Chinedu.
But the hitch has to do with a holiday in India as most government offices are closed.
The Diwali holiday runs for five days and many Indians often extend the celebrations, which began on Tuesday, for another five days.
Last night, the Kenyan high commissioner in New Delhi, Mr Festus Kaberia, told the Nation that he had received sufficient money.
“I received the money on Monday night, a bit too late for official business.
“We will have to wait for the courts to reconvene. Meanwhile, Wanjala and Akinyi are still in custody,” said Mr Kaberia by telephone from New Delhi.
Mr James Wanjala, a brother of the former MP and Mr Ojiambo Obada, the family spokesman, said the family had raised the money without any help from friends or his party, Ford-Kenya.
Large sum
Mr Wanjala and Ms Akinyi were arrested early this month at New Delhi airport with more than $100,000, the equivalent of Sh7.59 million in cash.
In India, any cash worth more than $5,000 (Sh375,000) has to be declared.
Mr Wanjala, a former Water and Irrigation assistant minister, and Ms Akinyi had travelled from Uganda via Dubai on an Emirates EK-514 flight.
New Delhi’s Revenue Intelligence Department was alerted about the arrests while the Narcotics Bureau is also busy investigating whether large sum of money had been meant for purchasing drugs, according to a Delhi newspaper that reported the arrests.
Source-The Nation
Kenya: Wanjala Pleads to Friends for Bail Money
The Nation (Nairobi)
27 October 2008
Former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala and his lover Joyce Akinyi are now asking their friends back home to help raise Sh1.3 million to bail them out of prison in New Delhi.
Their families have failed to raise enough money. The legal officer at Tihar Prison where the two are being held for the 21st day on Tuesday, Sunil Gupta, said on Monday evening that they were still in custody.
Mr Wanjala’s family was appealing to his friends, some of whom are in Government, to help raise the bail money.
Mr Wanjala’s first wife, Josephine, led a family delegation to Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula’s house seeking financial assistance. Josephine had managed to raise only Sh560,000 for her husband.
Whole amount
The money has since been deposited with the Foreign Affairs ministry and a receipt issued to that effect.
But the officer in charge of the Asian division at the ministry has told the family that the amount was only half of the bail needed and the two can only be released after the whole amount was raised.
Last Saturday, an Indian court granted Mr Wanjala and Ms Akinyi 200,000 rupees each (about Sh305,0000), coming to over Sh600,000. Another Sh100,000 is required from both to compensate for an Indian surety while the legal fees for the entire process comes to about Sh300,000.
A source in the meeting between Mr Wanjala’s family and Mr Wetang’ula said the minister had contacted Ford Kenya chairman and nominated MP Musikari Kombo for financial help for Mr Wanjala from the party’s kitty.
But Mr Kombo is said to have indicated that the party was broke.
Wanjala and Akinyi freed from jail in India
10/21/08
By cyrus ombati
Former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala and businesswoman Joyce Akinyi who were jailed in India, have been released.
The two were released following intervention by Kenyan authorities.
Sources at Foreign Affairs Ministry said the two were released on bail.
It was unclear if the two would be allowed to return, given the pending case. Authorities in India were investigating what Wanjala and Akinyi intended to do with Sh7.59 million found on them when they were arrested on Moi Day.
The two were arrested in New Delhi, with the undeclared money.
Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba had urged the Government to intervene and have the two released.
According to India’s Telegraph, New Delhi’s revenue intelligence department and the narcotics bureau were investigating if the money was to be spent on drugs.
MISSION ABROAD
The authorities said the two refused to disclose their mission, more than 10 days after they were arrested.
“They have refused to give the names and addresses of people they were to meet and stay with in Delhi,” the paper quoted an official.
Ms Akinyi, who is at the centre of a property tussle with her estranged Nigerian husband Antony Chinedu, travelled under a different name.
Officials at Tihar Prison, where the two were held, told the newspaper Akinyi travelled on a passport with the names Ochieng’ Teressa.
Kenyan High Commissioner in India Francis Kaberia said he was instructed to hire a lawyer and bail out the two.
Wanjala and Akinyi left Kenya through Uganda, the newspaper said, adding they entered India from Dubai aboard an Emirates EK- 514 flight, on October 10.
Officials in New Delhi say cash more than $5,000 (Sh375,000) has to be declared and owners obtain a currency declaration certificate.
When they were arrested, Wanjala and Akinyi had more than $100,000 (Sh7.59 million) in cash, all undeclared. Both have cases pending against them here in Kenya.
MP Ababu Namwamba, pleas for Wanjala and Akinyi
Published on 20/10/2008
By Roselyne Obala
Former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala and Ms Joyce Akinyi. Photo/FILE
The Budalang’i MP wants the Government to make an effort to have a former minister arrested in India returned.
Mr Ababu Namwamba, yesterday urged the Government to consult with Indian authorities on former Assistant minister Raphael Wanjala’s fate.
“I have pleaded Wanjala’s case with the Minister for Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula and I hope the Government will be in a position to intervene
“The Government should offer any necessary assistance to the former Assistant Minister and his woman friend because they are Kenyan citizens,” said Ababu, who ousted Wanjala in the last General Election.
Wanjala and Ms Joyce Akinyi, the woman at the centre of a divorce and property wrangle with her Nigerian husband, were arrested in New Delhi, India last week. Namwamba said he held talks with the minister to ensure their safe return.
He argued that despite the magnitude of the offence, the two should be tried in their own country.
Budalang’i residents said they were concerned with the conduct of the former MP.
“Why is he going around with a married woman yet he has two wives? Although we appeal to the Government to help him, he is letting us down as a community,” said Mr Corneli Sebe, a resident.
However, family members at Wanjala’s rural home in Budalang’i remained tight-lipped over his fate.
They declined to talk to The Standard team, which visited the home.
Source-The Standard
Raphael Wanjala and lover in Indian jail
Wednesday, October 15 2008
Former Budalang’i MP Raphael Wanjala and Ms Joyce Akinyi. Photo/FILE
On Wednesday, the Nation learnt that Ms Joyce Akinyi and Mr Wanjala have been behind bars in New Delhi for a week now after they were allegedly arrested in the city with bundles of American dollars after police swooped down on a money laundering racket.
A source in New Delhi on Wednesday narrated how she met Akinyi — whose divorce case with Mr Anthony Chinedu is pending in court — at the Tihar prison in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Arrested on Friday
Reliable sources also indicate that the couple were arrested at the New Delhi Airport last Friday, October 10.
Authorities at the Tihar prison confirmed that Mr Wanjala was their guest. “Yes, it is confirmed that Raphael Bitta Sauti Wanjala is in this jail,” the official said.
He did not, however, confirm what charges, if at all, had been preferred against the two, saying such information could only be obtained from the arresting police station, which we could not immediately establish.
Ms Akinyi’s name could not be displayed on the computer the prison official was using, raising the suspicion that she was using an alias.
Ms Akinyi is said to have travelled to India two weeks ago through Uganda. Reports indicate that she might have travelled from Kampala to India on a passport bearing another name.
Calls to the Kenyan High Commission in New Delhi on Wednesday did not bear any information on the two, since the high commissioner, Mr Festus Kaberia, was said to be in meetings in other parts of the country.
An aide to the high commissioner said she did not have any information on the arrests, but promised to get back to us once her boss returned.
Sources in New Delhi said the two were set up by people they had been doing undisclosed business with.
Reports show that the two had been arrested earlier on the same day and were used by the police as bait to get their accomplices in the undisclosed crime.
“Akinyi was called by another sister she does business with, who told her that they were in trouble and needed to be bailed out.
She carried a lot of money to the airport where she got two of her friends with the police and she was arrested,” said a source.
Another source revealed that the two had between them close to $100,000 (about Sh75.9 million) in cash at the time of the arrest.
The Tihar prison, with more than 11,000 inmates, is the largest prison in India. There is a division between the male and female prisons.
Ms Akinyi was supposed to appear in court in Nairobi on Wednesday in a case in which a businessman is accusing her of failing to deliver on a multi-million shilling deal.
Source-The Nation
Wanjala and Akinyi in an Indian Prison
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