A Nairobi court has heard how a group of suspected fraudsters, Festo Akula Wamwayi & others, allegedly operated from a rented apartment in Garden Estate, where detectives recovered hundreds of millions of shillings in fake foreign and local currency linked to an alleged gold scam syndicate.
Testifying before Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo, the analyst, Chief Inspector Martin Kitai told the court that the recovered United States dollar notes were not genuine currency but “mere papers” cut and sized to resemble authentic bank notes.
Kitai, a forensic analyst attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), testified that upon examination and comparison of the questioned documents and currency exhibits submitted to him, he formed the opinion that all the purported USD notes were forged.
“The questioned notes were fake USD notes. They were mere papers that had been cut and sized to resemble genuine US dollars,” the court heard.
The prosecution alleges that the accused persons were part of a syndicate involved in large scale gold scam operations and fake currency dealings, allegedly targeting foreign nationals.
According to the charge sheet presented before the court, the suspects are accused of conspiring to defraud one Bilel Arfaoul of USD 400,000 at Villa Mawe apartment in Garden Estate, Nairobi, on September 7, 2023.
The accused persons are Nelson Fru Che, Ronald Johnson, Joseph Gikonyo, Alice Kavata, Ian Wekesa Mulongo, Duncan Muchai, Ronald Johnson and police constable Festo Akula Wamwayi.
The first five are jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud and being in possession of 634,178 forged USD 100 notes, allegedly knowing the currency was fake.
The prosecution further told the court that investigators recovered approximately Sh300 million worth of counterfeit currencies, including fake Kenyan shillings and US dollars, during the operation.
In a separate count, Kavata is charged with being in possession of papers for forgery after she was allegedly found with 16,000 pieces of special paper intended to resemble material used in the manufacture of bank notes.
Johnson also faces an additional charge of being unlawfully present in Kenya without a valid passport, contrary to the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act.
The court further heard that Wamwayi was found at the crime scene during investigations and was subsequently charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition without a valid licence.
Retired Deputy Commissioner of Prisons Kennedy Akala Aguda also testified before the court, recounting how he was allegedly robbed at gunpoint on September 22, 2009, by assailants who stole his firearm.
Aguda told the court that during subsequent investigations at the scene where the fake currency was allegedly recovered, police officers found Wamwayi at the premises.
Fru Che is now a free man after the Director of Public Prosecutions made an application to withdraw the charges against him.
Milimani Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo discharged him under Section 87(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The court also heard that the ODPP had earlier applied to have one of the suspects, Joseph Waswa, discharged, leaving the remaining accused persons to proceed with the case.
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