A Cameroon national who has been charged with defrauding a businessman of Sh53 million in a fake gold trade has been remanded in prison custody.
Annouar Mohammed Sadate who denied defrauding Ismail Kolawole Adesina USD 434,101 (KSh53,828,400) will be held at the Industrial Area Prison until May 17, 2023.
Prosecutor Anderson Gikunda urged Milimani chief magistrate Lucas Onyina to order the detention of Annouar for two weeks to enable the police to consolidate his case with another one pending trial in court.
Gikunda told the court that Annouar was arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) while attempting to flee.
“I urge this court to decline to release the accused on bond. He is a flight risk. He was arrested at JKIA while trying to flee the country” Gikunda told the court.
The magistrate heard Annouar was arrested on May 7, 2023, at JKIA while trying to flee the country.
Onyina heard the accused had been implicated in the gold scam by suspects already facing justice.
The accused is facing four counts of obtaining money through pretenses and presenting fake tax documents to the police showing he had paid a tax deposit of USD 74,240.
Annouar was charged with obtaining Sh434,101 (KSh53,828,400) on diverse dates between March 23 2022 and December 18, 2022 alleging that he was in a position to ship to Ismail 33 kilograms of gold from Kenya to Dubai.
The gold, Onyina heard, was to be shipped by Miles Outlets Limited to Ismail based in Dubai.
On October 22, 2022, at Hurlingham, Nairobi he fraudulently presented to Ismail a forged Kenya Airways Airway Bill No706APX00129257 for the shipment of 33 kilograms of Gold from Kenya to Dubai by Miles Outlets Limited (MOL).
Annouar was accused of presenting a forged National Bank of Kenya (NBK) transaction receipt No D9817401b dated October 3, 2022 to Ismail purporting to be a genuine receipt issued by NBKb for a cash deposit of USD74,240 by MOL to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) as tax for exports.
Onyina called for a pre-bail report for the accused to be presented by the probation department.
“You are allowed to consult with your Embassy in the event you want any assistance,” Onyina informed the accused.
He was ordered to remain in custody until May 17, 2023.
