Missing Thika tycoon Julius Gitau was ‘touch away from penury’

Missing Thika businessman Julius Gitau had made costly financial decisions that had left his Sh600 million empire at the mercy of auctioneers.

The 44-year-old had secured expensive loans, invested poorly without the help of a professional credit adviser and lived large even as his businesses took a beating from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the lead-up to his mysterious disappearance on September 21, Mr Gitau was struggling with debt as his vast fortune dwindled. As the search continues, detectives are trying to determine whether there’s a linkage between the disastrous business decisions and his disappearance.

In one instant, documents with investigators indicate that Mr Gitau secured a Sh46 million commercial loan by using assets worth Sh200 million as collateral. He also took a Sh58 million life insurance cover but used it as collateral to borrow a Sh10 million. The end result was the picture of a “poor millionaire” who was slowly sinking into depression.

Police are now pursuing two theories: either, a plot by his family to eliminate him to save the estate from bankruptcy, or a case of the subject planning his exit to fend off pressure from creditors.

Kiambu County Business Community Chairman Alfred Wanyoike admits that creditors had made it a routine to camp outside Mr Gitau’s shops as others presented auction orders.

Created frictions

Besides his three wives — Lucy Wahu, Rachel Muthoni and Celina Nelly — three Thika-based concubines with five children have come out to demand “acknowledgment in estate administration”. This brings to 16 the total number of children associated with him.

“I don’t understand exactly why my son had multiple lovers since we do not have any polygamist in our family,” said his mother, Rosemary Wanjiru, 68. These relationships created frictions between him and his first wife “who has never approved of her co-wives”, she added. A generous man, Gitau was loved by in-laws; the least he paid as [bride price] for his three wives was Sh2 million.

“Today is the 44th day since my son went missing. I fail to understand why the police are not providing any evidence to me that they are committed to the search,” she lamented, adding: “Gitau was my pillar since he provided my meals, my medication, my security and my happiness.”

Police have so far recorded 12 statements and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is on high alert “to grab the faintest of hints regarding Gitau’s whereabouts in whatever state and utilise it to crack the case”.

“This issue remains a major puzzle which we have classified as pending under investigations (PUI),” Gatanga DCI boss John Kanda, told the Nation.

“Gitau was last seen in his shop in Thika town on September 21 at around 9am. He then drove to the gym in an old van and at 10am, called his driver from Blue Post Hotel before he vanished. Unfortunately, none of these places has a CCTV camera that could authenticate those claims, so we have been left to smell our way around to piece the broken parts together,” said Mr Kanda.

Financial pressure

The missing persons report at Gatanga Police Station was filed by his first wife Lucy Wahu and her nephew Geoffrey Wachira, who was Mr Gitau’s driver. In the report, she put her husband’s age at 60 years, yet he is 44.

Mr Wachira claimed Mr Gitau left a suicide note in the van hinting he had lost hope in life due to financial pressure, and had decided to jump into an unspecified river. Detectives have dismissed the suicide note as forgery.