A recent scandal has rocked Nairobi, as a woman and pastor have been caught in a fraudulent plot to inherit a tycoon’s multimillion-shilling estate.

The woman in question, Marilyn Mercy Wanjiru, forged the signature of Kwanwaljit Singh Chadda, who died in 2018, in order to obtain a marriage certificate. The certificate listed Ms. Wanjiru as Mr. Chadda’s wife and made her the beneficiary of his estate.

The fraudulent marriage certificate was brought to the attention of the authorities, and Ms. Wanjiru was found guilty of forging the papers. Christopher Mutira, the pastor who solemnized the fake marriage, was also implicated in the scandal.

The magistrate presiding over the case ruled that the marriage certificate was forged, and Ms. Wanjiru and Mr. Mutira had a clear motive and opportunity to present the forged documents to the Registrar of Marriages.

“I find the evidence evaluated cumulatively with emphasis on the highlighted part of the evidence and from the law, the prosecution has established beyond an iota of doubt that the deceased did not sign the certificate of marriage and as such, it was a forgery,” ruled Milimani principal magistrate B M Ekhubi.

Ms. Wanjiru’s list of assets included Mr. Chadda’s house in Ngara, other properties, a motor vehicle, two plots in Nairobi, a parcel of land in Kwale County, and Treasury bonds held at Absa Bank. She also listed shares in multiple banks and companies, including Britam, Co-op Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, Housing Finance Company of Kenya, KCB Bank, Kenya Electricity Generating Company, Safaricom, Total Kenya, Old Mutual, and Absa, with a total value of Sh5 million as of December 2018.

However, Mr. Chadda’s family claims that he was never married and did not have a girlfriend. Ms. Wanjiru’s motive for the fraudulent marriage was to strengthen her case in the pending succession case involving Mr. Chadda’s estate.

She had already petitioned for letters to administer the estate but was challenged by Mr. Chadda’s brother Parminder Singh, who filed a complaint with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over the forged certificate.