Two foreigners were charged before a Nairobi court with defrauding a businessman of Sh215 million in a fake gold deal.
Two foreigners were charged before a Nairobi court with defrauding a businessman of Sh215 million in a fake gold deal.
Abdallah Mckeny Mckenzy, a Cameroonian and Nancy Ted Malik Lounou, a Gabonese, denied one charge of obtaining money by false pretenses when they appeared before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina.
The prosecution said the two obtained USD 30,451 (Sh3.7 million) from businessman Celik Mesut by falsely pretending they were in a position to sell to him 33 kilograms of gold worth USD 1,732,500 which is equivalent to Sh215,176,500.
After denying the charges, the suspect sought to be released on reasonable bail terms claiming they will abide by all conditions the court will set.
The magistrate will this rule on whether to grant them a bond or order their detention pending the hearing and determination of the case.
Police have warned foreigners of fake gold merchants.
They want foreign Embassies and High Commissions to alert their nationals coming to Kenya for gold business.
Police told foreigners interested in the gold business to first contact the Department of Mines and Geology for guidelines regarding buying and selling gold and other valuable metals.
Unsuspecting foreign nationals have lost millions to gold scammers in recent weeks.
“The gold scam has now reached alarming levels as unsuspecting foreign nationals are being swindled large amounts of money by fraudsters,” police said.
