By Brian Okoth

A Nairobi court has ordered that some Ksh102 million ($873,660) that had been gifted to a Kenyan woman be forfeited to the government.

Anti-Corruption Court Judge Esther Maina ruled on Thursday that the source of the money wired to the two Kenyan bank accounts of Felista Nyamathira Njoroge could not be explained.

Nyamathira had received the money in two transactions from her Belgian boyfriend, Marc De Mesel, in August 2021.

De Mesel, a YouTuber, confirmed sending the money to his lover, saying he acquired it through cryptocurrency trading.

Judge Maina allowed the Kenyan government to keep the money, ruling that 23-year-old Nyamathira could not convincingly explain how her boyfriend raised the cash.

The judge said she had summoned De Mesel to disclose how he acquired the large amount of money, but he failed to honour the summonses.

“I have found that the funds in the accounts of [Nyamathira] were proceeds of crime and should, therefore, be forfeited to the State,” said Maina.

Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) had moved to court seeking to confiscate the funds, arguing that the Kenyan college student could not explain how she became an overnight millionaire.

ARA accused Nyamathira of being a beneficiary of money laundering.