'A stranger is operating her accounts': Mystery deepens in missing Belgian widow case

Belgian Widow Dysseleer Mireille. [Courtesy]

Former executor of missing Belgian widow Dysseleer Mireille’s estate has claimed that someone has been tampering with her three bank accounts with the Kenya Commercial Bank.

Lawyer Hari Gakinya, who executed the estate estimated to be worth over Sh100 million until April 21, 2022, wants the bank statements filed in court.

In his application before Judge Patricia Gichohi, Gakinya states that somebody has been operating Mireille’s accounts at KCB bank with or without the authority of the administrator. “It is only fair that the manager of KCB bank provide us, and this court, with all the bank statements from the date the case was filed, October 2019, to the end of March 2025,” Gakinya submitted.

He claims the statements would show if the estate is intact and may also stop any attempted cleanup of Mireille’s money in the bank.

According to Gakinya, the public trustee, who was appointed administrator of the estate, had not provided the court and the beneficiaries with any accounts of Mireille.

He said he believed the same may not be possible because someone is interfering with the said accounts without authority. “The beneficiaries are concerned because they do not know the actual value of the estate. They need to know the value,” he told the court.

Gakinya, who is the petitioner in the succession case, insists he was instructed by Mireille to represent her and the beneficiaries of the estate before she went missing in 2018.

He deposes that Mireille’s estate comprises the three bank accounts, all held in Maralal town in Samburu County, where Mireille was residing.

“We believe the public trustee is not able to find an account of the estate because there is a stranger operating it,” he submits.

He worries that some beneficiaries, who are school-going children, were in dire need of financial assistance in Mireille’s absence. “The person left to help the children with their school fees seems to be weary and almost unable to complete the task,” he states.

The application comes as the court suspended the hearing of the succession case from August 2024 until next month, pending the hearing and determination of a murder case against Gakinya. The lawyer is charged with Mireille’s murder. Mireille went missing on October 6, 2028. Although her body has not been found to date, detectives believe she was killed.

Gakinya is charged alongside Lucy Waithera, one of the listed beneficiaries in the estate. Gakinya filed the succession case on October 10, 2019, seeking orders to distribute the estate to seven beneficiaries.

The seven are Waithera, two students, John Lemarat, Ntalie Lenolkiok, Joseph Wanjohi (Mireille’s driver), and Daniel Moen.

He said he had been named the executor of the estate in Mireille’s will, dated November 15, 2018. He also claimed that Mireille died on July 15, 2019, at MP Shah Hospital.

However, the Attorney General opposed the application, accusing Gakinya of forging Mireille’s will, death certificate, and other documents he used to file the case.

Then trial judge Teresia Matheka appointed the public trustee administrator on April 21, 2022, until Gakinya’s murder case is concluded.

Mireille’s assets include a townhouse, a shopping complex worth Sh19 million, a luxury car, a lorry, properties in Belgium, and accounts in Kenyan banks.

The case will be mentioned on July 28.