A city businessman has been charged with defrauding a French national $59,994 (About Sh9 million) while pretending he was to spend the same as a facilitation fee to ship $89,000,000 (KSh12.8billion) from Nairobi to Kigali arising from the sale of precious gemstones in Qatar.
Edwin Ochieng Oduk was charged with defrauding Mr William Tuil the money on diverse dates between July 22, 2022, and June 20, 2023, within Nairobi County.
Oduk who had been under police investigation since August 17, 2023, was arraigned before Senior Principal Magistrate Charles Mwaniki facing nine counts of obtaining money through pretences, forgery of shipping documents, and presenting those waybills to Mr Tuil while knowing they were not genuine.
He denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh800,000.
In the first indictment, Oduk was accused of obtaining $16,000 from Tuil between July 22 and August 10, 2022, claiming he was to insure four boxes containing $89million (KSH12.8billion) held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Nairobi, a fact he knew to be false.
On June 25, 2023, Oduk allegedly defrauded Mr Tuil $12,500 alleging he was to hire a private jet to airlift the four boxes containing $89m from JKIA to Kigali Rwanda.
He was further indicted for obtaining fraudulently $31,494 from Mr Tuil claiming the hard currency was for paying Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Customs Duty for the boxes containing the $89m.
The said gems fraud stems from the alleged sale of 950 kilograms of Coltan minerals in Qatar.
The alleged precious gem was airlifted from Gabon to Qatar and from Qatar to Kenya.
Coltan is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted.
Other charges filed against Oduk are those of forging a Kenya Airways Bill letter number 706-50683 purporting it to be genuine and issued by the Kenya Airways Authority.
He was also accused of forging African Cargo Handling Limited (ACHL) letter SN ICCD No-NBO-264301 purporting it to be genuine issued by ACHL on June 3, 2023.
Oduk also denied forging another letter for the Customs Service Department for the East African Community (EAC) reference number CDARCN3360742023 purporting it to be a genuine letter issued by EAC
The last charge was of giving Tuil on June 23, 2023, recognizing the existence of the $89m and its movement.
The prosecution did not oppose the release of the suspect on bond.
When Oduk was first arraigned the prosecution claimed he received the money to facilitate the transfer of the hard currency from Gabon to Rwanda via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
He was arrested by Inspector Nicholas Njoroge of the serious crimes unit at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on August 17, 2023.
The case has been fixed for hearing on October 3, 2023.
