Seven in court for impersonating President Kenyatta, conning tycoon Merali Ksh.10M

Seven suspects were arraigned in a Nairobi court on Monday for allegedly conning Sameer Africa Chairman Nashud Merali Ksh.10 million, while posing as President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The accused; Joseph Waswa, Duncan Muchai, Isaac Wajekeche, William Simiyu, David Luganya, Gilbert Kirunja and Anthony Wafula, were not charged as the prosecution sought more time to complete investigations.

“Ten days is a reasonable estimate for purposes of these investigations,” submitted the prosecution.

According to court documents, the suspects called the tycoon on a number that Citizen Digital confirmed bears the President’s name on the True Caller application. They then went ahead to mimic Kenyatta’s voice as they purported to sell to Mr. Merali a parcel of land situated in Milimani area, Nairobi.

The Sameer Africa chairman was outside the country on a business trip when he received the call from the fraudsters,  and therefore gave a go ahead to his Finance Director to process Ksh.10 million as payment for the land, believing he spoke to the President.

The suspects gave the Finance Director an account number in which he deposited the money.

“That the nature of investigations in this case is complex since it requires communication data from several service providers which ordinary requires time , the investigations require time to establish the details of the bank account which was used to defraud Ksh.10 million and the signatories to the account,” reads the affidavit.

The seven were arrested on Friday and Saturday in a sting operation by detectives from the DCI.

During the operation, police recovered from the suspects four vehicles including a Toyota Land Cruiser V8, Toyota Mark X , Toyota Axio and Toyota Crown.

The fraudsters who were mostly targeting the #indian community are currently in lawful custody & will be charged on Monday. Four vehicles that they were using were also confiscated-KCS 768F Toyota Land Cruiser V8, KCS 994A Toyota Mark X and KCR 497Q Toyota Axio Silver. #ConAlert. pic.twitter.com/HV7qng6ESa

— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) February 23, 2019