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The Belgian billionaire Marc de Messel, who deposited Sh107 million ($915,000) in the account of a 21-year-old woman has received the nod to participate in a forfeiture suit where the State is seeking to seize the funds over claims that they were proceeds of crime.

Justice Esther Maina of the Milimani Anti-Corruption High Court yesterday allowed Mesel to participate in the cash-freeze suit in order to prove the legitimacy of the funds he wired to the student, Felister Nyamathira Njoroge, in August last year.

 The decision comes as the Belgian tycoon filed an application in court seeking to be enjoined after claiming that the student was his lover and the money, which has since been frozen by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), was “a gift” to her.

In his court papers, Mesel had indicated in the declaration documents that Nyamathira, a Nairobi Technical Institute student, was “free to use the money to secure financial security for our future children”.

The Belgian tycoon reveals details of Nyamathira’s striking beauty in the bulky documents filed at Milimani Law Court and how they met and fell in love instantly.

“That striking beauty in her, as well as her wasp waist, drove me into giving her that amount of money. Out of my sheer love for her. I am even ready to do anything that can please and make her live comfortably,” Messel says in papers he has filed in court.

He has denied allegations that he is involved in an international money laundering syndicate.