Three Gold fraud suspects in court over Sh 51M scam..
The three James Mwenda Waweru,Martha Mwikali Kotumo and Calvin Onyango Magak have been arraigned before magistrate Lucas Onyina where the prosecution applied for their detention.
The three said are said to have received the money in USD from the complainant who lost a total of Sh 403,000USD.
The court was informed that the three were arrested on September 27,2024 while in the process of selling another consignment of gold which is 10.2 Kgs to the complainant.
Appearing before that court,the investigation officer said that the suspects could be working with some foreign nationals amongst them Namibians,Congolese and nationals of Dubai who are still at large.
“The said 10.2kg of gold is yet to be subjected to assay to ascertain its authenticity from the government agency,”added.
The officer added that the preliminary investigations indicates that most of the witnesses are people known to the respondents and if the respondents or victims are left to be free or without court conditions as the investigation continue,they might interfere with witnesses.
He told the court that the cooperation of the respondents during the investigations is crucial in identifying more of their links and their accomplices who are still at large.
The officer said that they are yet to complete the forensic audit on the respondents phone which seems to be bulky due to the information stored there.
While seeking to detain them,the officer said it is proper for them to conduct proper forensic investigation on the phones of the respondents to ascertain some allegations of communications with our sources.
They however wanted them detained pending investigations.
They were released on a cash bail of Sh 200,000 each pending the conclusion of investigations after the court ruled that no compelling reasons to detain them at this point.
