Media exec Richard Alden arrested for murder

Richard Alden, the former CEO of Spanish cable operator Ono and more recently CEO of Kenya-based free and pay TV broadcaster and channel provider Wananchi, has been arrested for murder in Kenya.

Alden was arrested after Grace Wangechi Kinyanjui, with whom he reportedly had a relationship, was shot at his home in a suburb of Nairobi.

According to reports, Alden took Kinyanjui to hospital and said she had shot herself, but this claim was discounted by police who said her injuries were consistent with murder.

Alden, 53, is to appear in court in Nairobi today, while a postmortem on Kinyanjui’s body is also to be carried out.

Alden was appointed CEO of Wananchi Group in 2013. His term in the post ended in November, and he was replaced as CEO by Santiago Benedit, formerly chief financial officer at VimpelCom Group-owned Orascom Telecom Algeria/Djezzy.

Alden served as CEO of Ono from 1998-2009, when he was replaced by Rosalía Portela. He subsequently served as president of European operations at US software company TOA.

Alden also served on the board of Basque Country regional cable operator Euskaltel until last month.