Keroche heiress Anerlisa Muigai now sued for defamation

A man alleged to be a former boyfriend of Anerlisa Mungai has taken the flamboyant businesswoman to court over claims of defamation.

According to court papers seen by Citizen Digital, Mr. Ben Kangangi claims that her social media posts regarding the Ksh.19million loan she took “contain total falsehoods as pertains to him”.

“They were published with deliberate malice by the defendant who knows or ought to have known that the statements are not true. As a result, the Plaintiff has suffered loss in his transactions, loss of respect amongst his friends, business associates, family etc,”  the papers drawn by Conrad Maloba and Associates read in part.

Mr. Kangangi now wants the court to restrain the multi-billion shilling beer empire heiress from publishing any “further defamatory words” against him or his dealings.

“By the publication of the said online posts, the Plaintiff has been greatly injured in character and reputation as a consequence whereof the Plaintiff has been brought into grave public ridicule, scandal, odium and contempt in the eyes of right thinking members of the society,” read the court papers dated March 22, 2018.

Mr. Kangangi, through a supporting affidavit, claims to be an established businessman dealing in imports and sale of high-end automobiles, equipment, fashion apparel and interior designs materials through his trading company known as Benka Automobiles.

Through these businesses, he claims to make an annual turnover of Ksh.100 million, with 7 employees working directly under him and another 30 indirectly.

He further states that he has not been in contact with Ms. Muigai since December 2015 despite being close friends for three years, a period during which they “used to spend considerable time together.”

He clarifies; however, he has never dated the wealthy businesswoman and though he knew of her debt with Mwananchi Credit as she had approached him to help her settle it, he could not do so at the time as he “had other pressing personal commitments.”

He also claims that she asked him to accompany her to ask mother, Tabitha Karanja, to help her settle the loan but she refused. After this incident, Mr. Kangangi says he was arrested on claims of fraud reported by Ms. Muigai’s father.

“On Christmas Day 2015, I was called by a CID officer from Nairobi who informed me about a complaint lodged at the police alleging that I was involved in a fraudulent scheme that swindled Keroche Breweries Limited of Kshs. 20million. I was informed that the complaint was lodged by the defendant’s father Joseph Karanja.”

He was arrested and detained at Kileleshwa Police Station for two days and released on December 27, 2015, pending investigations into the complaint. He was again arrested on January 2016 and was in police custody for a week after which he was released and his cash bail of Kshs. 200,000 returned to him.

“The police informed me that from their investigations they had established that the defendant had been a victim of a scam known as ‘wash-wash’ where she lost her money and from their investigations I was not in any way involved,” he said. Mr. Kangangi says he has not been in contact with Anerlisa since.

Ms. Muigai had previously been sued by a Mr. Dennis Mwangeka over a Ksh.19 million loan she allegedly took for her boyfriend.

According to Mr. Mwangeka, she had taken three loans from him totalling to Ksh.13 million. He also claims that she gave him two vehicles: a Range Rover Evoque and an Audi Q7 – as security.

However, in a lengthy post on social media, Ms Muigai painted the two men as acquaintances working together to defraud her.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BggXddyAPGO/?hl=en&taken-by=anerlisa