DCI agents arrest 3 gold scammers after foreigners lost Sh340mn » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 1 — Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested three individuals accussed of defrauding two foreign nationals of over Sh340 million in a gold scam.
DCI revealed that the scheme began in June 2022 when Marco Colombo Conti, a businessman and associate of Satbinder Singh, traveled to Kenya to purchase 100 kilograms of gold from one of the suspects identified as Allain Mwadia Nvita.
Conti initially paid approximately $400,000 in duty and other charges through a law firm identified as Squire AfriLaw Consult Limited.
“In return for footing the charges on behalf of the seller, he [was] given 12kg of gold, which the seller said he could carry as hand luggage to recover the funds he had paid and any other fees required during the transaction,” the DCI stated.
However, just before Conti departed, Nvita informed him that he could not take the 12kg of gold as it was part of a larger 112kg consignment he was purchasing.
Nvita advised Conti to store the gold in a safe box at Mysafe Vaults at Village Market in Gigiri, Nairobi, which Conti agreed to.
Believing the gold deal to be legitmate, Conti left Kenya and returned on February 5, 2024, with his associate Singh.
Upon their return, Conti introduced Singh to Nvita, who posed as the gold seller.
Two other suspects –Lehman John Raymond and Daniel Ogot of Patvad Trading Co. Ltd — joined the prospective client together with Frank Kateti, a Tanzanian agent.
Escrow account
The group discussed the purchase of the 112kg consignment, and Nvita convinced them he would provide 31kg of gold, which they could take out of the country.
The 31kg consignemnt would cover the money Conti had paid in 2022 and the expenses Singh would incur in shipping the larger 112kg gold consignament.
Ogot subsequently invoiced Singh’s company, Asianic Limited, 711,070 Euros, instructing payment into an escrow account at Stanbic Bank under Mosota Abunga & Associates Advocates, LLP.
The suspect issued a further invoice for 14,112 Euros for freight charges on February 7.
“All these payments [were] made on 8th February, 2024 after their private agent Frank Kateti advised that everything was okay and the 31kg of gold [were] deposited into Mysafe Vaults at Village market,” DCI stated.
On February 9, the foreign nationals collected the gold and proceeded to the clearing agent’s office, where they divided and packed the consignment into sealed boxes.
As they left for the airport, Ogot and Kateti promised to bring the gold and necessary documents, but they failed to do so, forcing the foreigners to depart without the consignment.
Alleged confiscation
While in Italy, Ogot reportedly informed his clients that a weight declaration error had led to the consignment’s confiscation by customs resulting in the suspension of their license.
He also claimed the imposition of a fine equivalent to 20 per cent of the consignment’s value, amounting to $1,562,000, to redeem the consignment.
In response, Singh flew to Kenya and paid 1,438,460 Euros through the escrow account, hoping to recover the gold, unaware of the fraud.
The suspects took the investor to Forodha House at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), where he met a woman named Susan Oketch, posing as a customs official, who confirmed the fine’s authenticity and provided fraudulent ownership documents.
Singh returned to the UK on March 20, 2024, but suspects sustained their fraud by sending him fake airway bills indicating a sheduled delivery in Ireland.
Suspicious of the delays, Singh contacted the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General to verify the documents’ authenticity.
KRA referred the case to DCI who established that all provided documents were forged and that the supposed customs officials were not KRA employees.
Further investigations revealed that Patvad Trading Limited was not licensed to trade minerals by the Ministry of Mining, Blue Economy, and Maritime Affairs. The airline also confirmed the airway bills were fake.
The DCI determined that the total amount defrauded was 2,168,258.91 Euros, equivalent to Sh341,949,292.
The agency arraigned the suspects on fraud and forwarded a file to the Public Prosecutor on the breach of the advocate’s conduct over the involvement of a lawfirm in escrow account management that aided fraud.
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