Man in Musalia office fraud has other case

One of the suspects arrested together with the Director of Prime Cabinet Secretary Press Service Salim Swaleh had been involved in another Sh140 million fraud at the former office of the then Deputy President William Ruto.

James William Makokha alias Major George Nyapindi was among the suspects who allegedly conned Charles Gathii, the director Microhouse Technologies, in a fake laptop tender. The matter is pending before Milimani Law  Courts.

Makokha, Swaleh and four others were detained until this afternoon when the court will rule on their bond application.

Milimani Principal Magistrate Ben Mark Ekhubi said he needed time to go through the submissions by both the defence and the prosecution before making a ruling on whether to detain the six pending investigations in the alleged extortion case facing them.

The four other suspects included Otieno Japolo Michael, Terry Kemunto, Daniel Omondi Gogo and John Musundi Wabomba.

Through their lawyers led by Danstan Omari, the six had applied to be released on bail pending investigations stating that the police had not provided compelling reasons to detain them. “Your honour this is a tactic to have Swaleh dismissed from work. He is innocent because the police have not stated who the complainant is in the case,” Omari stated.

Pending investigations

He added that the suspects are not a flight risk and should be granted bail.

In a miscellaneous application, the police sought for fourteen days to detain the suspects pending investigations.

Before their arrest on Saturday, Swaleh, Makokha and four other suspects are said to have lured the unsuspecting victims from the UAE-based Nexor- Emea Engineering Consultancy, into the country.

They then allegedly told the foreigners that they were in a position to influence the award of tender for the construction of two additional stadia to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The six, a woman and five men, were arrested on Saturday after they allegedly extorted money from the foreigners by luring them to their offices ostensibly to meet high-ranking government officers for favours.

Makokha presented himself as the Chairman of Government Delivery Unit, according to a preliminary report by the DCI’s Operation Support Unit (OSU).

“This deception also meant switching legitimate name tags with fake ones on office doors to advance the scams,” the Secretary, Strategic Communication at Musalia Mudavadi’s office Peter Warutere said.

Warutere added that the cabal of fraudsters and Government officers facilitated their operations at the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary and Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs (OPCS-MFDA) at Kenya Railways headquarters.

Other conspirators

“Further investigations by relevant law enforcement agencies are ongoing to track and arrest other conspirators who may have been involved,” he said.

Warutere said the arrests followed a tipoff that alerted OPCS-MFDA security, who then mounted intense surveillance at the Railways Office to disrupt the reported nefarious acts of impersonation and misuse of the facility by the fraudsters.

According to OPCS-MFDA, the surveillance involved tracking a group masquerading as visitors. They would individually gain entrance into the Railways Building on different dates and times by falsifying their identities, as VIP guests or Government Officers, and the officers they purported to be visiting. “Their victims were mainly foreigners who would be shepherded into the Railways Building ostensibly to meet high ranking Government officers for favours in exchange of bribes,” he said.

He added that the surveillance was able to also track and identify their co-conspirators, among them Government officers who facilitated their dastardly activities.