NEW BEGINNINGS: Wambui O'Brien was stripped of her assets worth Ksh 240 million
Kenya millionaire who five years ago was stripped of assets and money leading to the collapse of a Sh240 million finance empire in the UK now runs a saloon in the outskirts of London, The Star has established. Anne Wambui O’Brien, now a citizen of UK, was made to surrender money and property including a Sh58 million flat which she had bought from millions of shillings which she made from her sex empire in London.
Wambui was also made to surrender Sh40.4 million which was recovered from 31 bank accounts which she operated. Another Sh27.6 million was recovered from the sale of her flat, which she used as a brothel. In total, Wambui was stripped of 2,169,710.57 pounds equivalent to Sh240 million which she is believed to have earned from her two brothels and two pimp agencies.
It is at the saloon named Elimu Hair and Beauty Limited, located at Kilburn Estate in the outskirts of London that the 38-year-old woman from Nakuru is said to spend much of her time. Finance documents filed by Wambui at the income department in London on January 16 and which are public documents indicate that the saloon is valued at Sh5 million by end of January 2009.
The documents indicate that she started the saloon on January 16 2006 after she wound up three other beauty companies which are suspected to have been started as a way of concealing the source of her dirty money. Wambui, also known as Anne O’Brien, after she married her Irish husband, Patrick O’Brien, is said to have dropped out of school and was helping her mother in selling vegetables in Nakuru before proceeding to the UK in 1997, where she established two brothels and two pimp agencies.
At the time of her trial in 2005, Wambui was accused of raking in Sh240 million from the sex dens which involved 40 prostitutes under her watch. Wambui is said to have made so much money that she even bought her own apartment worth Sh58.4 million which she also converted into a brothel. Besides loosing the huge sum of money and property, Wambui was also sentenced to 180 hours of community service. She was found guilty of three counts of controlling prostitutes and remanded for 10 months before the sentence.
The Star could not reach Wambui for an interview when we visited her saloon as she was said to be out of work for a week. Finance documents of her annual income which she filed on January 16 at the revenue department in London indicate that the saloon was worth Sh5 million by January 31 2009.
The beauty companies which she operated between 2003 and 2005 and which were suspected to have been used to conceal the source of her illicit wealth are: Ann’s Hair and Beauty Ltd, Marble Arch (London) Services, and Dream Girl Creations Limited which she closed down between February 2004 and 2005. Wambui is registered as the company secretary after she dropped her position as a Director on November 19 2006. Joyce Nyiraneza from Burundi is the current director and has only one share in the company. Wambui hold 999 shares of the 1,000 pounds shares in Elimu Hair and Beauty Limited.
Judge John Price, who passed the sentence, warned that Wambui would have been sentenced to four years in jail if she did not surrender her illicit wealth. The prosecution told the court that streams of men had been seen walking into and out of the brothels where they paid (150 pounds) 18000 per hour.
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