Veteran politician Simeon Nyachae’s family might have lost at least Ksh5 Million to a trusted house help who is believed to have gained access to a bedroom where the crispy notes were kept.
Police are looking for the former cabinet minister’s servant identified as Lillian Maina to explain circumstances under which the money went missing from the bedroom.
The officers say Ms. Maina disappeared on October 7 but her daughter was arrested on suspicion of having aided in the heist.
The money was in a safe in the bedroom of one of Nyachae’s wives, Grace Wamuyu who had left the money in the house as she travelled to the UK to visit her ailing husband.
The housegirl’s daughter, Grace Mbugua, was on Wednesday released unconditionally by Milimani Law Courts Magistrate Kennedy Cheruyiot against the prosecution’s plea.
Police wanted Mbugua held for a week, arguing that she knew where her mother, the main suspect, was hiding but Cheruyiot dismissed the position saying she had no obligation of telling the investigating officers where the suspect was hiding.
According to Nyachae’s wife, the money was safe under a locked-and-key area in the bedroom, but she suspects that she must have forgotten the key while on her visit to the ailing politician.
When they traveled back from the US on October 7, Nyachae and the wife found the money missing and the servant could not be traced.
They reported the matter to Parklands Police Station on noticing that much of the kept foreign currency was missing and detectives were able to visit the scene but the maid had disappeared.
“We started investigations and Ms Mbugua was arrested on October 29 on the strength of phone calls data which showed she had picked up the suspect and escorted her to Kitengela,” police informed the court in an affidavit.
