#SafariRally&Scandals: From Bernhard Ten Brinke to Maxine Wahome, Rally Drivers Scandals who've brushed with the law
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Safari Rally & Scandals
They say it takes two to tango and it seems Rally drivers and Scandals can become inseparable.
Rally racing is a glorious, lovely action-packed sport full of noise and violence. Some drivers have since move away from all the palpable risk and skill on display to brushing shoulders with the law. Here are just a few notable names.
Bernhard Ten Brinke
Famous rally driver Bernhard Ten Brinke and the first Dutch cardriver ever to win a stage in the 2018 Dakar Rally hit national headlines in Kenya over a gold scandal that threatened to soil his otherwise impressive track record.
Brinke is an international rally driver who also doubles up as owner of Wiggers, BTB Cars, BTB Real estate, BTB Investments and BTB Racing.
Brinke lost a whopping 500kg of gold worth Sh171 million ($1.375,150) after he was scammed by one Elvis Ouma Muga. Milimani Law Courts senior principal magistrate David Ndungi heard that Ouma claimed he would sell 500kg of gold to Brinke. The rally driver who has driven the Hellendoorn Rally 2009 to a fourth place and was able to win the title in 2010 transferred the money from two of his companies; Three Gold BV and Bernhard ten Brinke Holding BV to Ouma.
Mr Brinke says he entered into a contract to purchase 500kg of gold with a man called George Fundu, through Global Freight Management Ltd. Elvis Ouma Muga alias Nick Muganda accompanied by his representative visited a gold smelting premises and witnessed 50kg of gold being processed.
Brinke’s representatives used at least Ksh20 million to charter a private plane to transport the consignment but the Kenyans did not meet their end of the deal.
“Global Freight Management Limited however has failed, refused and/or declined to deliver the first gold shipment as was agreed in the sale and purchase agreement.
“It later turned out that the defendants herein were acting in concert and in a well-coordinated enterprise to defraud the plaintiffs of their hard-earned monies in the sum of USD 1,589,760 (Ksh171.34 million) in the pretext of a transaction for sale and purchase of gold,” Brinke said in court papers.
The whole deal was fake and fell through.
The money was reportedly received by a local law firm which was investigated by the Assets and Recovery Agency after the transactions raised red flags. The ARA was authorised to freeze six bank accounts that received Sh53.9 million in April by High Court judge Daniel Ogembo.
The accounts frozen belong to Mubadala Merchants Limited, First Cargo Logistics Limited, First Line Capital Limited, and Doumbe Malonga Eddy Michel and are held in Standard Chartered Bank and Cooperative Bank.
Brinke later sought to be enjoined in the gold scam suit before Nairobi High Court saying millions frozen by ARA, a Kenyan state agency, belong to him.
Maxine Wahome
From illegally getting into the notorious Kenyan roads at the tender age of 15 while driving her dad’s car, Maxine went on to make history as the first Kenyan female driver to win the World Rally Championship 3 in her first appearance before she landed in trouble over domestic violence
“I got into the road illegally at the age of fifteen while driving my dad’s car,” Maxine confessed in an interview with Spice Fm.
In late 2022, the rally driver who had become a darling of the Kenyan people was arrested and arraigned in court for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend, fellow rally driver Asad Khan, who later succumbed to his injuries.
Maxine, who trended on social media for over two days, was arrested on Monday in a Kilimani apartment after Asad’s brother reported to the police that she reportedly attempted to harm him.
The court was told that when police officers visited the scene, they found blood and household goods littered on the floor and staircase.
“On further examination, one of the window pane glasses was broken as well as two-door window pane glasses were also broken,” read the court document.
The court released her on a Ksh.100,000 cash bail after spending two nights in custody, after hearing that she was fully cooperating with investigators.
Ponsiano Lwakataka
In 2022, Ponsiano Lwakataka, a renown rally driver was convicted and sentenced to 2 years in prison after he was found guilty of malicious damage to property.
Ponsiano is no stranger to brushing shoulders with the law.
In 2017, Rally driver Ponsiano Lwakataka was arrested again when he was allegedly intercepted trying to smuggle immature fish in Mbarara District en route to DR Congo.
According to an eyewitness Denis Kato, a Fusso truck registration number UAY 123R was stopped at a revenue checkpoint in Mbarara Town but it defied orders of the URA law enforcement personnel and proceeded. The truck was carrying immature fish from Ggaba in Kampala to DR Congo. A source in URA who declined to be named said the fish belonged to Mr Lwakataka.
“This prompted URA staff to chase the truck driver but he tried to block the URA vehicle from overtaking,” Mr Kato said.
After the URA officers blocked the road, the driver abandoned the truck in the middle of the road and fled into the bush.
The revenue officers hired a driver to return the truck to Mbarara, Lwakataka intercepted it a short distance away, grabbed it and drove it away.
“Mr Lwakataka pulled the driver, whom URA officers had hired to drive the truck back to Mbarara, out of the driver’s seat. When the driver resisted, Mr Lwakataka pointed a pistol at him and drove off the truck,” one of the URA officers said.
A fresh chase for the truck ensued this time around with the rally driver himself in charge. The URA personnel said Mr Lwakataka employed his rally skills behind the steering and gave them hard time chasing him through the narrow and dusty village roads in Sheema.
“But we managed to arrest him after deflating two tyres of the truck,” the URA official said.
He said Mr Lwakataka was handcuffed and taken to Kabwohe Police Post. But was later released with his fish in the night.
In 2014, Mr Lwakataka appeared before Chief Magistrate’s Court in Kasese on charges of trading in immature fish and assaulting fisheries officers. He denied the charges and was remanded to Mubuku Prison.
This article has been updated with new information since it was first published.
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