She lost her marriage over him, spent weeks behind bars carrying his name in headlines, and even miscarried in a police cell. But Faith Mwikali Ndiwa alias Faith Nguthu says none of it was her fault.

Minutes after Milimani Magistrate Caroline Mugo acquitted her on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, of conning her former Nigerian bank executive boyfriend Jude Olabayo Veracruz out of Sh25 million, the woman who has answered to at least three names walked out of court and, for the first time, told her side of a scandal that has gripped the country for two years.

“My husband chased me away after social media went awash with information that I was seeking a Nigerian investor, Jude Olabayo Veracruz,” she told journalists outside the Milimani Law Courts, describing the collapse of her marriage after claims emerged that she was involved with the Nigerian tycoon while still living with the father of her three children.

Popularly known in her political circles as Mama Tutam, and having formally renounced her former name Faith Mwikali Ndiwa in a Kenya Gazette notice and adopted Faith Nguthu for all purposes, she said the affair rumours began after she met Veracruz through what she described as a business relationship.

“Indeed, the Nigerian was my friend after we met in a spa business. He developed interest in me and started forcing a relationship with me, which I declined because I was already a married woman with three children,” she said.

Faith said Veracruz pursued her after learning she ran a chemist and a spa in Nairobi and worked in the ticketing department at Wilson Airport.

Her account was markedly different from the one detectives presented when she was arrested in May 2024.

Ndiwa had faced eight counts of forgery, uttering false documents and obtaining money by false pretences, arising from an alleged scheme prosecutors said began in May 2022.

According to the prosecution, she met Veracruz at Guarantee Trust Bank and claimed she had Sh70 million that she wanted advice on investing.

The relationship allegedly later developed into a business arrangement in which she pitched him a mosquito-net supply tender.

She was accused of falsely claiming that, through her companies Ashley Dylan Limited and Faizel Limited, she had secured a KEMSA tender to supply insecticidal nets.

Prosecutors alleged that she forged a framework contract between KEMSA and Ashley Dylan Limited and an amendment agreement involving Faizel Limited, then presented the documents to Veracruz as genuine.

The charge sheet stated that, between June and December 2022, Veracruz transferred Sh25,040,150 to her in instalments. Prosecutors alleged that part of the money was used to acquire a Range Rover car, registration KDM 311L, before she switched off her phone.

But after a two-year trial, the prosecution case failed to secure a conviction.

Delivering her judgment, Magistrate Mugo found significant gaps in the evidence. No witness placed Ndiwa physically handing the disputed tender documents to Veracruz.

The prosecution also failed to call a Safaricom official to confirm that Ndiwa owned or used the telephone numbers linked to incriminating WhatsApp exchanges.

The court further noted that large sums Veracruz allegedly paid, including money routed to third parties whose connection to Ndiwa was not established, remained unexplained.

Key witnesses were also missing from the prosecution case, including Monica Wanguimwangi, the registered director of Pfizer Limited, a company incorporated in June 2022.

The magistrate noted that Veracruz’s engagement with Nguthu was mainly verbal and that evidence showed their relationship went beyond a conventional business arrangement.

The defence had argued that Veracruz had, on several occasions, given Nguthu  cheques to withdraw money on his behalf.

After weighing the evidence, Mugo concluded that the State had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and acquitted Ndiwa on all eight counts under Section 215 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Court records from her 2024 arrest, however, paint a very different picture from the successful businesswoman narrative she presented outside court.

Investigators told the court she used three names, Faith Mwikali Ndiwa, Faith Nthiwa and Eunice Karehu, and described her as a flight risk during bail hearing.

Under the name Faith Nthiwa, she was also accused of obtaining Sh27 million from American dual citizen Samson Kikaya in a similar scheme.

The case emerged after Kikaya reportedly recognised her from media coverage of the Veracruz case.

Detectives further alleged that she had fabricated her professional credentials, including a job card claiming she was a personal physician to the First Lady, while a LinkedIn profile allegedly linked her to UNDP, UNICEF, KEMRI and the Central Bank of Kenya.

Ndiwa rejected the allegations and maintained she was already financially successful before meeting Veracruz.

“Indeed, I was already a successful businesslady before I met Veracruz. He met me when I was already driving my Range Rover,” she said.

She maintained that she bought the vehicle through an NCBA bank loan, which she was servicing at Sh300,000 a month.

Her ordeal took a darker turn after her arrest when she was held at Capital Hill Police Station for a week.

She said she collapsed and suffered a miscarriage while in custody, before then-trial magistrate Benmark Ekhubi, who has since been elevated to the High Court.

Now training to become a pilot, Ndiwa says she is ready to move on.

She has entered the race for the Nairobi Woman Representative seat in the 2027 General Election and credited President William Ruto’s development record for inspiring her political ambitions.

She also highlighted this year’s February Valentine’s Day event at Jacaranda Grounds, where she said she hosted more than 6,000 people in the President’s honour and ordered a Sh150,000 cake.

Thanking the Judiciary for what she described as a fair hearing, she turned her experience into a warning to other women to avoid being taken advantage of.