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Feud over dead Pepsi executive Mulwa Mutilangi’s property takes a dramatic twist
Bakari Kisalu Malanda at the Milimani Law Courts on February 8. Inset: The late former Pepsi director William Mutilangi Mulwa.
By Brian Wasuna
Nation Media Group
What you need to know:
- Mr Mulwa died on October 16, 2023 in New York, United States of America.
- His body was cremated in November last year following instructions by New Jersey resident Mr Githinji.
The Tanzanian at the centre of a tussle for property owned by former Pepsi Cola Director William Mutilangi Mulwa told police that he was tricked into signing documents that sparked the cross-border assets battle, the Nation has established.
Mr Bakari Kisalu Malanda, who is facing charges of intermeddling with a deceased person’s property, told Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers that he has no interest in inheriting the former Pepsi executive’s assets, and even sought forgiveness from Mr Mulwa’s family before being arraigned.
Mr Bakari was charged at the Milimani Chief Magistrate’s Court on February 15, but is out on cash bail of Sh100,000.
In a statement recorded with the DCI a week before being charged, Mr Bakari said that on several occasions, lawyer Jimmy Kahuthu asked him to sign documents whose contents he did not comprehend.
The documents include a power of attorney — a legal authorisation allowing a designated individual to make decisions on behalf of the executor — in favour of New Jersey resident Peter Nderitu Githinji to authorise Mr Mulwa’s cremation despite the fact that an autopsy had not been conducted.
Mr Mulwa died on October 16, 2023 in New York, United States of America.
Post-mortem examination
His body was cremated in November last year following instructions by New Jersey resident Mr Githinji, who told Yorktown Funeral Home that Mr Mulwa’s son, Bakari, had authorised the decision.
The cremation was done before a post-mortem examination was conducted, and the move sparked a battle with Mulwa’s siblings in Kenya.
Other documents Mr Kahuthu drafted, allegedly on Mr Bakari’s instructions, include letters to Yorktown Funeral Home and Mr Mulwa’s former employer, Pepsi Cola.
“…Later on several occasions I was summoned to lawyer Kahuthu’s office and upon arrival I was requested to sign some documents whose purpose I could not understand. I confirm that I was not involved at all in anything in regard to mzee’s (Mr Mulwa) funeral or any other documentation at all. Honestly speaking, I didn’t have any intention of grabbing or getting the late mzee’s property,” Mr Bakari told detectives.
“I honestly seek for forgiveness in case what I did through my signing of the documents unknowingly… Let the relatives pardon me and take the deceased’s property,” Mr Bakari added in his statement.
The Tanzanian pointed an accusing finger at Mr Kahuthu.
“I still confirm (the documents) which I signed before lawyer Kahuthu weren’t (sic) known to me at all… While back in Nairobi around February 6, 2023 I was arrested by DCI officers from Nairobi Area who informed me that I was being investigated over my interference (sic) so as to acquire the deceased’s property which is not true at all,” Mr Bakari told detectives.
A four-bedroom house built by the late former Pepsi Cola director William Mutilangi (inset) at the family compound in Masii, Machakos County. The death of the PepsiCo director sparked war over his multi-million-shilling assets.
Interestingly, after Mr Bakari was charged, his lawyer Bryan Khaemba said in a media briefing that Mr Mulwa adopted the Tanzanian in 2018, and that there were relevant documents to that effect.
Mr Mulwa’s siblings were first informed of their brother’s fate nearly two weeks after his death.
A US-based individual identified as Japheth Ndambuki called Mr Mulwa’s brother, Vincent Kioko, and claimed that the former Pepsi boss sired Mr Bakari with a Tanzanian lady.
But in his statement, Mr Bakari said that his mother, Fatuma Kithuki Mwanya, is alive in Tanga. His biological father, Kisalu Malanda, died several years ago but his mother remarried a man identified as Shaban Ally and that they still reside in Tanga.
In a contradicting narration of events, Mr Kahuthu told DCI officers he only drafted documents as a lawyer and on instructions from Mr Bakari, a client.
Mr Kahuthu, in his DCI statement, said that a friend of his identified as David Solomon Njoroge introduced him to Mr Mulwa and Mr Bakari in August, 2023 and they held a meeting at the lawyer’s office.
Mutual friend
Mr Njoroge, the lawyer said, is a mutual friend of his and Mr Mulwa.In the meeting, Mr Mulwa allegedly introduced Mr Bakari as a son. Mr Kahuthu claimed that in the same meeting, he drafted some agreements, whose nature the Nation is yet to establish, for Mr Mulwa and Mr Njoroge, with Mr Bakari witnessing the process.
The lawyer insists that he had all along believed that Mr Bakari is Mr Mulwa’s son as allegedly mentioned in the August 23, 2023 meeting.
“Mind you all this time I still regarded or took Bakari as the son of the deceased in view of the meeting on August 23, 2023 and communication with the hospital nursing home and funeral home he had shown me… With this he appointed me as his advocate to act through a letter dated October 24, 2023…I came to understand other parties were also on the issue. To date I have never received a death certificate or any official communication on any aspects of this issue. As an advocate my role is to act for parties,” Mr Kahuthu said in his statement dated February 9.
Mr Bakari, in his statement, said he first met Mr Mulwa in 2018 along the shores of Tanga beach, and that the former Pepsi executive initiated a conversation that led to friendship.
He added that in August, 2023 Mr Mulwa called him and requested that they meet in Kenya. The two allegedly met in Mombasa, before travelling to Mr Mulwa’s house in Greenpark estate.Mr Mulwa then said Mr Bakari was now his son, the statement further reads.
The Tanzanian insists that Mr Mulwa gave him unfettered access to the house in Greenpark, and even introduced him as a son to a caretaker identified as Boniface. Mr Bakari stayed in the Greenpark house even after Mr Mulwa returned to New York in September, 2023.
Cremated
In his statement, Mr Bakari claims that North Westchester Restorative Therapy and Nursing Centre called him on October 16, 2023 to inform him that Mr Mulwa had died while receiving treatment.
Mr Kahuthu, in his statement, claimed that after Mr Mulwa’s death, Mr Bakari visited his office in the company of Mr Njoroge. The lawyer said he called New Jersey-based Peter Nderitu Githinji to verify the information and find out what was required of Mr Bakari. Mr Kahuthu claims he later learned Mr Githinji had paid for the cremation and was to be reimbursed by Mr Bakari later.
“Bakari had also said he needed the body to be cremated since he couldn’t pay $12,000 to bring the body back to Kenya as he did not have the money. He said it had been communicated to him that the cremation was $4,500 which was also much and costs would keep on rising if he did not make a decision,” Mr Kahuthu said in his statement.
The lawyer said that during his first meeting with Mr Mulwa, he told him that he was not in good terms with his siblings.
In his statement to the DCI, Mr Kahuthu said Mr Bakari reminded him of the alleged bad blood with siblings.
Mr Bakari, in his statement, did not mention Mr Githinji, or Mr Njoroge who allegedly introduced the former Pepsi boss to lawyer Mr Kahuthu.
Mr Mulwa’s siblings have filed succession proceedings in the US, where Mr Mulwa lived for 37 years. His brother, Edward Mutilangi, has been granted temporary administrative powers as the case proceeds.
