Three suspects have been arrested after they scammed two foreign nationals over Ksh 340 Million in a fake gold scam deal.
In a statement, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said the scam started in June 2022 when Marco Colombo Conti, a business associate of Satbinder Singh, traveled to Kenya with the intention of buying 100kg of gold from Allain Mwadia Nvita.
Marco paid about 400,000 US dollars in duty and other charges through a law firm in the name of 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 was free to carry out as hand luggage and sell to recover the funds he had paid and any other fees that would be required in the course of the transaction.
“This however did not happen since when he was just about to leave, the seller informed him that he could not leave with the same 12kg of gold since it was part of the bigger consignment he was purchasing from him, making a total weight of 112kg,” DCI stated.
He then advised him that he could keep the same safely in a safe box at Mysafe Vaults at the Village Market in Gigiri, Nairobi which he accepted.
Convinced that the gold deal was still viable, he left Kenya and returned on 5th February 2024 in the company of Mr Satbinder Singh who was interested in buying the Gold in question.
On arrival, Satbinder was introduced to Allain Mwadia Nvita who was the gold seller, Lehman John Raymond, Daniel Ogot of Patvad Trading Co. Ltd, and Frank Kateti, a Tanzanian agent.
“The team proceeded to discuss with the seller the possibility of buying the 112kg consignment whereby the seller, Allain Mwadia, convinced them that he was willing to provide 31kg of Gold to be carried by them out of the country and this would cover for the money that Marco had paid in the year 2022 and also for the expenses that Satbinder would further incur in the process of shipping out the 112kg after the same was bought by Satbinder,” said DCI.
On February 5th, 2024, Daniel Ogot invoiced Asianic Limited for 711,070 Euros, to be paid into an escrow account at Stanbic Bank. On February 7th, 2024, he invoiced an additional 14,112 Euros for freight charges.
All payments were made on February 8th, 2024, after agent Frank Kateti confirmed the deposit of 31kg of gold into Mysafe Vaults. On February 9th, 2024, the gold was retrieved, divided, and repacked into sealed blue metallic boxes at Ogot’s office.
As they left for the airport, Daniel Ogot and Frank Kateti promised to bring the consignment and documents but failed to do so. The foreigners flew out, and while in Italy, Ogot informed them that a weight declaration error led to the consignment’s confiscation and their license suspension.
“Further, Ogot explained that the Customs department had imposed on his company a fine equivalent to 20% of the value of the consignment amounting to 1,562,000 US dollars which if not paid, then the entire consignment was at the risk of being confiscated,” the DCI report stated.
Satbinder flew to Kenya and paid 1,438,460 Euros through an escrow account to recover the gold, unaware he was being defrauded. In JKIA, he met with a woman named Susan Oketch, who claimed to work for customs and confirmed the fine’s authenticity while providing documents.
After returning to the UK on March 20, 2024, scammers continued deceiving him with fake airway bills, leading him to contact the Commissioner General of KRA to verify the documents.
The matter was referred to the DCI and upon undertaking in-depth investigations, it was established that; all the documents provided to the complainant were forged.
The three suspects have been arraigned as files on investigations into the conduct of the advocate for breach of the terms of their letter of engagement for legal services and escrow account management has been forwarded to ODPP for perusal and advice.
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