A man suspected to be part of a fake gold syndicate was on Monday charged before a Nairobi court with defrauding a foreign national over Sh 38 M in a fake gold scam.
Steve Okoth Odek is alleged to have lied to the victim that he would supply gold to the said foreigners.
It is alleged that on diverse dates between February 1, and August 2, 2024 at Nairobi City County jointly with others yet to be arrested, he conspired to commit a felony.
He is alleged to have stolen a sum of 265,200 USD equivalent to Sh 38,188,800 from Asianic Ltd by falsely pretending that he was in a position to sell 580 Kgs of gold to the Asianic Limited.
Okoth denied the offense before Magistrate Gilbert Shikwe and pleaded with the court to release him on reasonable bail.
According to police reports, the foreigners entered into two separate gold purchase agreements with Okoth in February 2024 where he was to sell gold to them at USD 40,000 per Kilogram.
He allegedly promised to deliver the gold only after securing certain conditions, including the buyer’s responsibility for jet chartering, payment of taxes and insurance.
However, he failed to deliver the gold and in an attempt to keep the scam going, he provided 20kg of “gold bars” as collateral, which were stored at MySafe Vault.
All this time, the foreigners remained unaware that they were being scammed, and ended up paying a total of USD 256,000 through two law firms; Owano & Associates Advocates ($126,000) and Alata & Co. Advocates ($139,200).
He was detained until Tuesday, December 10, 2024 when the court will deliver the bail and bond ruling.
