Benin National Implicated In Sh700M Fake Gold Fraud Detained In Nairobi

A Benin National implicated in Sh 700M gold fraud has been detained for ten days to allow the police to complete investigations.

Salem Frejus Hector Joyau Ahossi appeared before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina where the prosecution made an application to detain him for 14 days .

In an affidavit sworn by Sergeant Charles Odhiambo, there are crucial leads for more recoveries and arrests thus releasing the suspect would jeopardize the ongoing investigations.

Odhiambo said that they are also concerned that he may escape Jurisdiction of the court since he is a Benin National who has a Canadian Permanent Residency and has no fixed place of abode in Kenya.

“We want to liaise with Embassies of foreign countries mentioned in the Fraud and our Interpol offices in order to process the respondent legally due to the complicated nature of the investigations,”added Odhiambo in his affidavit.

He said they also require more time to subject two mobile phones recovered from the respondent to forensic analysis and they also want to trace and record statements from the unsuspecting foreign investors that are currently dealing actively with the suspect and his agents.

The suspect was arrested on October 25,2024 and booked into custody at Capital Hill Police Station video OB 2/25/2024 in connection to alleged offenses of conspiracy to commit a felony against the law and obtaining money by false pretenses contrary to section 313 of penal code.

The matter was first reported to Capital Hill Police Station on September 27,2024 vide OB 44/27/2024 by Maxine Harouna Sawadogo,a holder of Canadian of passport No HM 749985 in the company of ATINHO DASSOUNDO ,a holder of Canadian Passport No.AA687858.

Salem Frejus Hector Joyau Ahossi in court.

The complainant alleges that he was persuaded by the suspect and introduced into a Gold sale and purchase transaction on August 17,2022 back in Canada where they both attend the same church Christ en Action Evangelization.

At that time,the complainant had known the suspect for a period of about three months out of their interactions in the Chapel.

He informed the complainant that he had business partners in Africa who had a lot of Gold available for sale and he had at the same time identified buyers of the said Gold who were Belgium Nationals and so the only thing that was missing was an investment in the processing of the Gold in preparation for its sale.

The suspect informed the complainant that the Gold owners were offering the consignment for sale at a price of USD 35,000 per kilo and further that once the sale is done and profits are realized,he was willing to share the profits with the Investor on 50/50 basis.

The respondent later sent the complainant the profit estimates assuming they had invested in processing 100kgs of Gold which statistics showed that they would realize a profit of 2,061,512.5 Euros.

According to police, the complainant paid over Ksh.700 million in order to acquire a 490-kilogram gold consignment to be sold in Belgium.

“That during this time some of the payments have been done through bank transfers on instructions of the respondent, to his agents and associates while at other times he instructed the complainant to send the money through the informal Hawala system,” official court documents read in part.