Slain Somali-American businessman Bashir Mohamed Mohamud was on the intelligence system radar for receiving and sending huge sums of money to Somalia, Kenyan government officials said he had first received millions of shillings from a top Somali government official before he channelled it back to various different banks..
The money, according to officials, sometimes moved through foreign accounts before ending up in Mogadishu, which raised suspicions, Bashir, 36, was tortured and strangled to death, a postmortem on Monday has found. The body bore deep cuts, bruises and the toenails had been pulled out. The body also bore burn marks.
The postmortem was performed by chief government pathologist Johanson Oduor and two other pathologists representing the family and their lawyer, DCI officials also attended the autopsy at Umash funeral home in Nairobi.
State sources said Bashir was related to top Somali government officials, hence, the trusted money connection.
“In as much as I can’t connect the death to the money issue, there was a feeling he was channelling money to Mogadishu, which is technically at war with Kenya. It was a concern,” a senior official said in confidence.
All sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Bashir, a structural engineer and proprietor of Infinity Developers based in Nairobi, went missing as he after left Miale Lounge in Lavington, Nairobi, where he had gone for a meeting and Idd celebrations.
Kenya and Somalia have disagreed on major issues including the miraa trade, the maritime border in the Indian Ocean and Somaliland. Diplomatic ties were severed, then there were reports of reconciliation but no improvement has been evident.
Kenyan government officials say he was funding an enemy. But there has been no confirmation if this was the reason for his murder.
In one RTGS money transfer, Bashir used a company to wire money to Sudan, which ended up in Mogadishu. He had won construction tenders worth billions of shillings in Kenya. Among them was the construction of the Sh700 million Kisumu market. Other contractors were involved.
He once accompanied President Uhuru Kenyatta in commissioning the project. It is not clear how he secured the tender.
Bashir was buried on Monday at Lang’ata Cemetery.
His body was found on the banks of River Nyamindi, in Kirinyaga county on May 16, three days after he went missing.
Family lawyers said they will request the office of the DPP to institute an inquest probe to determine the circumstances of his death.
Lawyer Charles Madowo said the US government had seconded an FBI agent to partner with DCI in the murder probe.
Bashir was last seen in the company of as-yet-unidentified persons at 5pm. The sighting was before his vehicle, a Range Rover (KCQ007P) was captured by CCTV cameras leaving the premises an hour later.
In the footage, Bashir was seen tipping guards. Part of the footage shows that a few seconds later, his vehicle stopped, apparently obstructed by another vehicle.
There was a traffic snarl-up on the left lane and no vehicles were seen moving from the right side, an indication a vehicle had blocked the road.
Curious pedestrians are seen looking at what could be a commotion near Bashir’s car. At that time, Bashir tried to call his wife, but the call was interrupted and his phone went dead.
