DCI wants Belgian’s Sh100m case stopped over fake papers

Belgian Dysseleer Mireille’s house in Nakuru, which detectives say was sold as soon as she disappeared. RIGHT: The disputed shopping complex in Maralal. [Courtesy]

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) want a Sh100 million succession case for properties owned by Dysseleer Mireille, 65, who disappeared in 2019, terminated.

Yesterday, Sergeant Franklin Kiraithe and forensic expert Oliver Nabonwe told Justice Teresia Matheka that they had tangible evidence proving that documents used to file a succession case were forged.

Kiraithe said the alleged forged documents were used to file succession case 40 of 2019. According to his submissions in court, lawyer Hari Gakinya was allegedly in possession of three forged wills and a forged death certificate for Mireille that was used to file the succession case.

Gakinya filed the succession suit on October 10, 2019, seeking a grant of letters of administration for Mireille’s estate. He named himself the executor of Mireille’s properties.

In the application, Gakinya told the court that Mireille had died.

However, Kiraithe told the court he suspects that Mireille, who went missing from her residence in October 2018, was killed over her properties.

“We have reasons to believe that Mireille is dead and there was foul play in her death,” said Kiraithe.

He told the court that Gakinya is using Mireille’s forged death certificate, showing that she died on July 15, 2019, at MP Shah Hospital after an illness, to distribute her estate.

“We have a letter from the State Department of Civil Registration denouncing the death certificate produced by the executor. The department claims that the certificate must be a forgery because it didn’t originate from them,” Kiraithe said.

The sergeant further told the judge that MP Shah Hospital had also denied ever attending to Mireille, adding that the facility has maintained that she did not die there, contrary to what was indicated in the death certificate.

Kiraithe told the court that Gakinya also filed an alleged forged will and letter from a chief in Samburu with the lists of beneficiaries of Mireille’s properties.

After subjecting the documents to forensic examinations, Kiraithe said the purported signatory in the documents was found to be a forgery.

“The executor was found with two other forged wills ostensibly prepared by Mireille, save for the one used to file the case in court dated November 15, 2018. After subjecting them to forensic documentation, they were found to be fake,” he said.

Kiraithe further told the court that immediately Mireille disappeared, Gakinya possessed her vehicle, a Toyota Prado, and used it as security to obtain a loan of Sh2 million before he sold the car for Sh2 million.

He added that Mireille’s residence was equally repossessed after her disappearance and later sold immediately she disappeared.

Kiraithe said that after investigations, Gakinya and Lucy Waithera, one of the beneficiaries of the estate in the purported will, were charged with the murder of Mireille at the High Court in case number 10 of 2020.

The two were arraigned on March 11, last year. According to the charge sheet, they allegedly murdered Mireille between December 11, 2018 and July 15, 2019.

Kiraithe said the DCI had also confiscated the car, which is an exhibit in the murder case.

He urged the court to terminate the succession case, claiming that all the documents used to file the succession case were obtained fraudulently.

In opposition, lawyer Karanja Mbugua, who has taken the case over from Gakinya, wants the application dismissed claiming that the reasons are not compelling.

Justice Matheka urged the detectives to make a formal application for the succession suit to be terminated.

The case will be mentioned on March 29.