A 28-year-old woman has been charged with obtaining money by false pretences in a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) recruitment scam at Kahawa Garrison in Nairobi.
Faith Kambua Mwatu is accused of defrauding businessman Boniface Kimuyu of Sh280,000 on various dates between 14 and 18 August 2023 in Nairobi.
She is charged with obtaining the money by false pretences contrary to Section 313 of the Penal Code.
Ms Mwatu is accused of defrauding Mr Kimuyu by pretending to be in a position to facilitate the recruitment of his sister-in-law, Miriam Minoo, into the KDF, knowing this to be false.
She is accused of perpetrating the fraud with others at large.
Some of Ms Mwatu’s accomplices are suspected to be serial fraudsters who have been defrauding unsuspecting Kenyans by pretending to be KDF officers.
One of them claimed to be a senior officer with the rank of colonel.
Ms Mwatu faces an additional charge of conspiracy to defraud contrary to Section 317 of the Penal Code.
This charge alleges that she conspired with others at large to defraud Mr Kimuyu of the money during the same period.
Ms Mwatu had travelled from Mukaa Sub County in Makueni County to Nairobi to meet Mr Kimuyu,
Mr Minoo and others at Pipeline Estate in Embakasi to conclude the deal.
She claimed to be in contact with the “senior KDF officer” who was to hire Minoo.
The impostor posing as the senior KDF officer allegedly called Ms Mwatu and instructed her to take
Kimuyu and Minoo to Kahawa Garrison as he was delayed at work, and the three went there.
A taxi dropped them off at the barracks gate and a man suspected to be one of the accomplices picked them up and took them inside the garrison compound.
They were taken to a car where they met two other men, including the alleged impostor, who claimed to be a senior military officer.
Ms Mwatu allegedly told Kimuyu that he needed to pay some money for the procedure and she allegedly received Sh20,000. She later instructed him to send Sh200,000 to the alleged senior officer, which he did.
Ms Minoo was taken to another car for examination and other activities including fingerprinting before they left with the promise that she would receive a KDF summons in early September.
By the time they left, Kimuyu had transferred Sh20,000 to Ms Mwatu and Sh200,000 to one of her accomplices.
Kimuyu received a call from the alleged senior officer claiming that the balance of Sh60,000 was needed and the complainant called Ms Mwatu who told him to send the money to her, which he did.
She told Kimuyu that Ms Minoo’s employment letter would be delivered in October. They never received it and Ms Mwatu stopped answering their calls.
They later discovered that the alleged senior KDF officer was a fraud when they saw his videos on social media being grilled by victims he had defrauded.
Ms Mwatu denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Irene Gichobi at Makadara Law Courts.
She was released on Sh100,000 bail with an alternative cash bail of Sh50,000.
The case will come up for pre-trial on 10 January 2024.
