Businessman Jimi Wanjigi arrested after hours-long standoff

Billionaire businessman Jimi Wanjigi has been arrested following a warrant of arrest issued by a Nairobi Magistrates court on Tuesday.

The arrest came after an hours-long standoff at his offices along General Mathenge drive in Westlands, Nairobi that saw Anti-Terror Police Unit (APTU) officers break into one of the buildings at the premises to get hold of Wanjigi.

The businessman is expected to be taken in for questioning before being arraigned.

According to multiple reports, Wanjigi is said to have sought refuge in his office’s bunker during the incident in a move that kept the sleuths at bay, after receiving word of the planned raid.

The heavily armed officers however broke into the offices and arrested Wanjigi and other individuals.

Tuesday's raid was preceded by another siege at Wanjigi's offices on Monday night by DCI detectives

At around 9.30pm several armed officers arrived at the Kwacha Group of Companies and demanded to take Wanjigi in for questioning. They were however not successful prompting more reinforcement to be deployed on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday afternoon, a Nairobi court issued a warrant of arrest for Wanjigi over alleged conspiracy to commit a felony and forgery of a title deed.

The warrant was also issued against Wanjigi’s 7 other alleged co-conspirators among them his wife Irene Nzisa Wanjigu, Himanshu Velji Dodhia, Kaneez Noorani, Mohamed Hussein Noorani, Mohamed Hussanali, Kairu Augustine Thuo and John Nyanjua Njenga.

“On diverse dates between 9th April 2010 and 5th June 2018 at unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, jointly with others not before court, conspired together to commit a felony namely forgery of a title deed for land registered as IR.65800 LR.N0.1870/11/200 deed plan No.175145 dated 20th July 1993 under the name of Horizon hills limited,” the court papers read.

The businessman has however since claimed that the raid on his offices was politically coordinated due to his political stand and more so, remarks he made over the weekend where he castigated ODM leader Odinga accusing him of dishonesty.