A court in Kenya has remanded a Nigerian national, Kennedy Atinse, for allegedly duping a businesswoman of over N1m.
Atinse who allegedly obtained Sh300,000 from the victim through fraudulent means while pretending he was in a position to triple the amount, has been charged.
Mr. Atinse was charged with cheating Ms Esther Wanjiku Kamau on March 3 this year in Kasarani, Nairobi.
He was also charged with conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to Section 393 of the Penal Code where he is accused of colluding with others at large to defraud Ms Kamau of the cash.
The accused person was also charged with being in Kenya unlawfully.
Mr. Atinse admitted that he was in Kenya illegally but denied defrauding Ms. Kamau when he appeared before Principal Magistrate Monica Kivuti of Makadara Law Courts on Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
Ms Kamau was informed by her brother that Mr Atinse wanted to introduce them to a lucrative business that involved the multiplication of cash.
They met and she was taken through the procedure. They later rented a house where they would conduct the business and Ms Kamau turned up with Sh300,000 hoping to leave with triple the amount.
Mr. Atinse told her that she would get a profit of Sh600,000 within 24 hours, promising to give her Sh900,000.
Ms. Kamau left for her house leaving the accused person to complete the process.
She returned to the apartment the next day and witnessed as Mr Atinse removed what appeared to be money from a fridge and mixed it with some chemicals that turned it red.
The accused person told her there was a problem and excused himself to go meet a lab technician to find out why the money had turned red.
Later, Ms Kamau realised that Mr Atinse had left with her money.
She contacted him two days later to ask about the money and he told her that he needed more than Sh180,000 to clean up the money.
She reported the matter at the Kasarani police station and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations took over the matter.
The detectives arrested the suspect on April 6.
Mr. Atinse will remain in remand until April 20 when he will be sentenced for being illegally in Kenya before the court sets hearing dates for the other charges that he denied.
