Controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi arrested
Controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi on Monday arrested together with his accomplice Emmanuel Nyamweya Ong’era for blackmail, extortion and false accusations.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti said the blogger and his accomplice had just received Sh1 million from the victim as a down payment for Sh17.5 million they had earlier demanded as a precondition for pulling down libellious posts appearing on the website of the suspects.
“The exhibit money was recovered and the two suspects will be arraigned on Tuesday,” the DCI said.
Detectives from Gigiri had launched investigations into the extortion claims.
They said Nyakundi had published a story about the Victoria Commercial Bank, indicating that the bank was under spotlight over corruption, impunity, and Central Bank of Kenya guidelines violations.
Nyakundi had also alleged that there was internal borrowing and money laundering at the bank.
Detectives, however, did not say if the allegations were true or not.
The bank has three branches in Upper Hill, Industrial Area and Westlands all in Nairobi and each branch is led by san Asian.
Nyakundi has been arrested and charged in court on several occasions. In 2018, he was arrested at the Milimani law courts where he had gone for the mention of a case against him by the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi. He had been charged with defaming Matiangi.
Nyakundi had also been charged with posting offensive messages about the embattled Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko.
In April 2018, he was also charged for posting derogatory remarks against Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru and former Kenya Power Managing Director Ken Tarus.
He has also been charged with posting hate speech against the Kikuyu community on social media.
Detectives say corporate head and business men have been suffering in silence as bloggers extort huge sums of money from them after posting defamatory statements about them.
“Some of the victims agree to pay the money especially in cases where they allegations are true and fail to report to the authorities,” said a detective.
According to the police, they are investigating another case where another blogger demanded Sh1 million to pull down a story published on their website.
In March 2017, a court sentenced Nyakundi to four months in jail or pay a fine of Sh300,000 for continuously disobeying court orders.
High Court judge Lucy Njuguna issued the verdict and faulted the bloggerb for disobeying the orders in a case where the former Safaricom CEO the late Bob Collymore and his predecessor Michael Joseph sued for defamation.
