Heavenly debt! Sarah Wairimu denies that the late Tob Cohen owed politician Ksh 35m

Piece by: Grace Kerongo
Exclusives

Slain widow of Dutch tycoon Tob Cohen has raised an issue with how her sister-in-law  Gabrielle Van Starten jetted out of the country after the will was read.

Sarah Warimu said in the affidavit filed in court on Thursday, "After the opening of the Will, Gabrielle and her husband had no further use for my husband and promptly left the country despite publicly stating that they wanted to accord Cohen a decent Jewish burial." 

Gabrielle, Cohen's sister, flew out of the country a day after his will was opened.

Warimu rejected an invitation to witness the opening of her late husband's will. In a letter by her lawyer Philip Murgor, Wairimu said the confidentiality of the document had been impugned.

In the affidavit, Wairimu further reveals how she learnt that two unnamed Kiambu politicians claimed Cohen owed them Sh35million.

Wairimu said she unearthed this during the opening of his husbands Will.

"I learnt that the Will opening ceremony was attended by a politician one Patrick Muiruri and that two Kiambu politicians were claiming to be owed a sum of Sh35 million by my late husband," she said.

"... I am not aware that my late husband owed such a colossal amount of money to anyone let alone Kiambu politician and will in due course request that these claims be investigated."

Cohen's body was on Tuesday afternoon moved from Chiromo mortuary to the Jewish cemetery on Wangari Maathai Road for the final rites.

The Dutch billionaire's body was found last Friday afternoon — eight weeks after his disappearance —in an empty underground water tank at his Kitisuru residence. His body was wrapped in many layers of black plastic.

Cohen was reported missing from his Lower Kabete home in Nairobi between July 19 and July 20.