This archive report was first published on 3 September 2019.
On September 3, 2019, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested Joe Mwangi, the former manager of teenage gymnast Wendy Waeni, three days after DCI boss George Kinoti issued a warrant of arrest against him.
Mwangi is accused of forgery and issuing threats to Wendy's mother, Magdalene Mbele. He allegedly forged a letter purporting to be from a Cabinet Secretary threatening the complainant.
Wendy Waeni exposed Joe Mwangi during an interview on Citizen TV's Jeff Koinange Live (JKL) where she accused her former manager of pocketing the money from her performances across the globe for the last five years.
However, Joe Mwangi fought back accusing the child star's mother, Ms. Mbele, of misusing the money on alcohol. Ms. Mbele dismissed the allegations, stating that she is a 'staunch Christian' and has never had alcohol in her life.
Ms. Mbele also accused Joe Mwangi of giving her a little share of the large sums of money he received from various politicians and media personalities to aid in developing and promoting her daughter.
She claimed that Joe Mwangi received money from politicians in the name of her daughter, including Sh.140,000 from Raila Odinga and only gave her Sh.30,000, and Sh.100,000 from Kalonzo Musyoka and TV presenter Jeff Koinange each, giving her Sh.20,000 and Sh.4,000 respectively.
