Billionaire businessman Pius Mbugua Ngugi, one of Kenya’s most powerful agribusiness figures and the estranged husband of Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, is now a wanted man after a Nakuru court issued a warrant for his arrest over an unpaid legal bill amounting to Sh4.2 million.
Ngugi, 81, the founder of the Kenya Nut Company and a dominant player in the global macadamia market, is being sought by police following orders issued by the Environment and Land Court in Nakuru on January 29, 2026. The warrant authorises officers to pursue him to all his known residences and business premises, both in Nairobi and upcountry.
Police Foiled at CBD Offices
Police officers from Central Police Station have reportedly been camping outside Ngugi’s offices at the iconic Volvo House on Loita Street, Nairobi CBD, but were left frustrated after failing to arrest him despite intelligence suggesting he was inside the building.
Sources familiar with the operation describe a dramatic cat-and-mouse chase, with the tycoon allegedly slipping through the police dragnet, leaving officers empty-handed in a scene likened to a Nollywood thriller.
The warrant gives police wide latitude to execute the arrest, including provisions for travel expenses. Officers are entitled to bus or railway fare, or Sh1 per mile if using motor vehicles, in addition to out-of-pocket expenses incurred during the manhunt.
The Debt Behind the Drama
At the centre of the unfolding saga is a legal fee dispute involving Githogori & Harisson Associates, a law firm that previously represented Ngugi.
Court documents show that the tycoon owes the firm:
- Sh3.7 million in principal fees
- Sh475,948 in accrued interest
- Sh5,500 in collection fees
- Sh1,500 in court filing costs
The total stands at approximately Sh4.2 million, a figure widely regarded as pocket change for a businessman whose empire spans agriculture, insurance, real estate, manufacturing, and finance.
Advocate Harrison Musyoka, representing the law firm, has been pushing for swift enforcement. In a letter dated February 4, 2026, addressed to the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) at Central Police Station, Musyoka underscored the urgency of executing the warrant.
The matter is scheduled for directions in court on February 5, with the judge expecting an update on progress made in arresting Ngugi. The OCS is said to have received the warrant only a day earlier, piling pressure on police to act fast.
A Familiar Scandal for Passaris
For Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, the latest controversy involving her husband is another chapter in a long and public history of personal turmoil.
Passaris has previously spoken openly about the challenges of her polygamous marriage to Ngugi. In a 2016 interview, she admitted that while she never planned to be in such an arrangement, she had learned to accept it. The couple has two children together—Makenna and Lefteris—while Ngugi also has four children with his first wife, Josephine Wambui Ngugi.
Their relationship has repeatedly made headlines. In 2003, Passaris sued Ngugi, accusing him of breaching a promise to marry her after the two had lived together as husband and wife since 1992. In 2014, another woman, Lynette Lucy Buddery, took Ngugi to court over delayed school fees for their daughter.
Legal Troubles Beyond Family Matters
Ngugi’s run-ins with the law are not limited to domestic disputes.
In 2020, the Court of Appeal ordered Kenya Nut Company to pay the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Sh33.5 million in withholding tax linked to commissions paid to foreign agents between 2002 and 2005. The judges castigated the firm’s arrangements, describing them as “reckless” and seemingly designed to deny the country tax revenue.
A Colossal Empire, A Small Debt
Ngugi controls roughly 10 per cent of the global macadamia market, with business interests that include Thika Coffee Mills, Kenya Alliance Insurance, Tatu City, sweet manufacturing, dairy farming, wineries, and prime real estate.
His consumer brands—Out of Africa nuts, Nassu Snacks, Aberdare Tea, and Leleshwa Wines—are household names across Kenya.
That such a titan of industry is now evading arrest over unpaid legal fees has stunned observers and raised uncomfortable questions about accountability among Kenya’s elite.
From Coffee Farmer to Macadamia King
Ngugi’s rise is the stuff of legend. A coffee farmer in Kiambu in the early 1970s, he pivoted to macadamia farming after coffee prices collapsed in 1972. With government backing and Japanese investors, he built a processing empire that today employs more than 4,000 people and manages over 8,000 acres of farmland.
For decades, he shunned the limelight, so much so that many Kenyans only saw his face in a 1995 Kenya Newsreel broadcast shown in cinemas before the movie Crimson Tide.
A Fall from Grace Playing Out in Public
Now, the once-elusive billionaire is making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
As police intensify the manhunt and the court deadline looms, the question remains: will Pius Ngugi settle the debt and face the court, or will he continue dodging arrest?
One thing is clear—the macadamia king cannot run forever. And as the streets watch and the law closes in, this extraordinary chapter in his storied life is unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon.
