Published on July 31, 2026 by Kariuki Mwangi
Last Updated on 1 hour by Kariuki Mwangi
A Nairobi business woman is calling for the urgent action against her former business partner, son of the owners of Sawa Mall in Eastleigh, who is allegedly planning to flee the country, with the assistance of officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) , who she alleges, have been instructed to issue the man with his passport, currently being held by the authorities.
According to the woman, she entered into meat export business from Kenya to Dubai with a man, who is the son to the owners of the Sawa Mall in Eastleigh named Abubakar Mohamed Abdullah.
In the business arrangement, the business woman sought an investor, who injected capital into their business, in which, Abubakar sought the market while the woman supplied the meat for export.
Following a protracted tussle between the two business partners, where the woman claims Abubakar fled the country into hiding in Saudi Arabia without paying her an acrued debt of 1.1 million shillings, the dispute was taken to Makadara Law Courts in June 2025 before the man fled.
Abubakar was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the immigration officials on 22nd of July as he was trying to leave the country, despite having an active injuction against any overseas travel pending a solution to the dispute.
Abubakar’s family, who own Sawa Mall, through powerful people in the police force is pushing DCI Ruaraka to lift the and let him leave the country unconditionally ahead of court hearing in september.
This comes after he was forcefully brought back into the country after he fled to Saudi Arabia to avoid going to court after he defrauded a Nairobi based business woman Ksh 1.1 million in export business.
The woman now calls on the Law Society of Kenya, FIDA and Human Rights groups to come to her assistance in getting her right. During the ongoing battle, former Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo intervened forcing the police to swing into action before ‘orders from above’ trickled down.
The business woman claims she had tried to get help from DCI Ruaraka and headquaters to bring him back to the country but they said she had to wait until he returns to Kenya.
Narrating her harrowing ordeal at the hands of the family associates of his business partner, the woman claimed that she resorted into street protests outside the family’s Sawa Mall to force the family to produce Abubakar who was in hiding, protests which were met with violence from agents of the family.
Efforts to seek for assistance from Pangani Police Station and Eastleigh Police Station bore no fruits, leading her to seek further assistance where the man was areested following the intevention of the Starehe Sub County Police officers.
Efforts to seek clarification from the DCI in Ruaraka were not successful as our calls went unanswered.
The man only resurfaced after sections of the media aired her story outside Sawa Mall. At some point, the manager of Sawa Mall Abu Yasir allegedly brought officers who strangled and manhandled her and took her to Eastleigh Police Station.
It is alleged that powerful people have instructed Ruaraka DCI officers to give him his passport to facilitate his escape from Kenya. He is reportedly supposed to leave the country tomorrow. She further states that she suspects that the cashbale of Ksh 100,000 that Abubakar was granted is for a petty offense as appossed to the 700,000 that he was given in court.
The woman also made claims that she has been fearing for her life as her phone has repeatedly being hacked and data deleted remotely. She has also been tracking, forcing her to keep an eye over her shoulder, making sure she keeps shifting the places where she spends her nights for fear of her life.
The suspect had warned her that there is nothing that can be done because one of his uncle has a senior position in the current administration with high connections both at the DCI and the National Intelligence Service by virtue of one of his cousins being married to a daughter of a very senior government official.
She claims that they are further demanding that she should give his UK /Dubai based cousin shares in her company if she needs her money, which is not the right channel of acquiring shares in a company.
