Detectives from the Operations Support Unit of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday, November 6 arrested a lawyer linked to a fake tender deal after an American national complained of losing over Ksh182 million to a ring of scammers in Nairobi.
According to a report by the DCI, the suspect was arrested within the precincts of Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi.
The suspect was arrested after a court session he had attended for mention of another criminal case in which he was the accused person.
The facts preceding his arrest date back to 2022 when the proprietor of the American-based company was lured to jet into the country to allegedly meet some government officials and discuss the award of tenders by the government.
The victim flew into the country, where they held several meetings in various offices and was handed three different fake tender documents.
The victim was handed over a document for the tender for the supply of installation, and commissioning of the area control centre and disaster recovery system equipment.
The second tender document was on the provision of consultancy services for the process of designing, implementing, and maintenance of an Information Management System (IMS).
The third tender documents were on supply, delivery, installation, and Commissioning of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS).
In the process, the victim was coerced into making payments to facilitate the tenders and work permits as part of the conditions to be met before commencing the projects.
Payments amounting to USD 1,617,200 (about Ksh182.7 million in the current exchange rates) were made as instructed by the purported government officials, through four different fake accounts operated by four different law firms.
After all the payments were made, the suspect began taking the victims in circles blocking contact and missing scheduled meetings. That is when the victim filed a complaint with the DCI who undertook investigations that led to the lawyer's arrest.
The suspect was taken into custody and processed for arraignment on Wednesday, November 6, but was later released on cash bail to await the approval of the charges preferred against him by the ODPP. DCI is still in pursuit of his accomplices. By Christine Opanda, Kenyans.co.ke
