Police probe ‘Prophet’ Owuor over Ksh.1.5B property tussle

Located in the upmarket Westlands area in Nairobi County, Dove Apartments is now a subject of police investigations.

The property, approximated to be worth Ksh.1.5 billion, is at the center of a vicious tussle between the family of Jayne Muthoni and the Repentance and Holiness Ministry church of controversial self-proclaimed prophet David Owuor.

Detectives from Kabete Police Station, led by DCIO Francis Wanjau, have since taken over the matter and seized property documents from Dove Apartment and another property located in Riverside, Nairobi.

Ms. Muthoni’s family has accused the flashy clergyman and his church of forcefully taking control of the multi-storey apartments in Westlands and Riverside Drive through what they term an elaborate scheme initiated in 2005.

They allege that the prophet and the church coerced Ms. Muthoni to appoint Lilly Njage, a follower of the ‘prophet’, as a co-director in Shaba Investments Limited that owns and manages the property.

According to the family, Owuor has allegedly been pocketing millions of shillings in monthly rent from the upscale apartments; and now the police want to trail the proceeds of the property in question.

Dove Apartments has 14 townhouses that attract rent of Ksh.170,000 each: summing up to Ksh.2,380,000 per month and Ksh.28,560,000 annually.

The police now have the task of establishing the account that has been receiving rent deposits from the apartment as well as whether there have been withdrawals and by whom.

And with the controversy running for 15 years, the police are looking at a suspected fraud amounting to Ksh.428,400,000.

Muthoni, through her company Shaba Investments, owns properties in Westlands, Lavington, Riverside, Thika and Mombasa. Also of interest to detectives is the sale of 108 acres of her land in Thika that was sold in 2011 at a cost of Ksh.850,770,000.

Bishops of the Repentance and Holiness Ministry have since come out to defend their ‘prophet’ from a myriad of questions posed by journalists.

The Bishops evaded questions about why they failed to involve the family of Jayne Muthoni before Lilly Macharia was enlisted as a signatory of the company.