On Wednesday, February 28, authorities arraigned Kelvin Mwaura Ngotho, the alleged mastermind of the Kes.2.85 billion gold scam involving two Malaysian nationals at the Milimani Law courts. He faced charges related to an unsuccessful deal involving 50kg of counterfeit gold in December 2023.
Detectives from the DCI’s Operations Support Unit arrested Mr Mwaura Ngotho on Tuesday at the court premises while he was attending the hearing of another gold scam case for which he is currently out on bond.
“Operations Support detectives have been pursuing Mwaura since December 27, 2023, being the mastermind of the near-success $19,000,000 (Kes.2.78m) gold scam deal orchestrated by an 8-member gang,” the DCI noted.
The DCI reported that Mwaura was the tenant of the Kileleshwa-based premises from which the gang operated. He had entered into a tenancy agreement with the landlord, intending to use the property as a residential house.
Mwaura faced charges of conspiracy to commit a felony and attempt to commit a felony. He entered a plea of not guilty to both charges and was granted a bond of Kes.3 million or an alternative cash bail of Kes.1 million.
Senior Principal Magistrate R.K. Ondieki scheduled the mention of the case for March 13 at the same court.
Well-choreographed Fake Gold Scheme
On the day scheduled for sealing the fake gold deal(December 27 last year), detectives raided the house, apprehending Mwaura’s seven accomplices. However, Mwaura managed to escape during the operation.
The transactional meeting was meant to defraud Malaysian nationals Halid Mohamed and Yaacob Zulkannaaub bin Ramali. They were to finalize the first shipment of 50 kg of refined gold, supposedly sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Two days prior, the foreign nationals had arrived in the country following an invitation from Rock Africa miners, operated by the suspects consisting of six Kenyans and one Congolese national.
The seven are Patrick Otieno, Charles Cincent Njerenga, Didier Muke, Brian Otiende, Mark Kabete, Ken Kiboi, and Joshua Ngandi.
The suspects had set up their operational base in the aforementioned Kileleshwa house, equipped with fully furnished office-style rooms to deceive the unsuspecting victims.
Each kilogram of gold was priced at Kes.7.2 million, with the total 500 kilograms of gold, amounting to Kes.2.85 billion.
Remarkably, the suspects had also enlisted a G4S security team to guard the main entrance as they conducted business with the Malaysian nationals.
However, DCI detectives raided the meeting a few minutes after it had started. The G4S guards were also arrested during the operation.
