Serial Gold Fraudster Walks Free in Sh8.1 Million Fake Gold Scam Acquittal

NAIROBI, Kenya — In a stunning reversal that has sent shockwaves through the anti-fraud community, notorious gold scam suspect Abbas Badru Omuyoma walked out of Milimani Law Courts a free man on Wednesday after Senior Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki acquitted him of masterminding an Sh8.1 million fake gold fraud.

The acquittal represents a major blow to prosecutors who had lined up what they believed was a watertight case against Omuyoma, a businessman whose name has become synonymous with Nairobi’s thriving fake gold underworld.

The decision comes as Kenya continues to battle an epidemic of gold fraud that has cost foreign investors hundreds of millions of shillings and damaged the country’s international reputation.

Omuyoma, who also goes by the alias Yuri Sande Ismael, had been charged with defrauding Sri Lankan national Galagama Gedara Issadeen of USD 82,000 on July 9, 2019, in Kilimani, one of Nairobi’s upmarket areas that police have dubbed “Africa’s fortress of gold scams.”

The Defence That Prevailed

In his defence testimony, Omuyoma painted himself as merely an unfortunate middleman caught in the crossfire of a legitimate business deal gone sour. He told the court that while discussions about a gold transaction did indeed take place, the deal collapsed after disagreements emerged between the parties involved.

“I provided an invoice based on an understanding that I would be paid as an agent, but to date, I have never received any money, directly or indirectly,” Omuyoma testified, maintaining that his role was limited to that of an intermediary.

He claimed any funds related to the transaction were wired to an escrow account involving entities known as Blue Creek and Jason, not to him personally. This argument appears to have convinced Magistrate Ondieki that the prosecution had failed to meet the burden of proof required for conviction.

A Pattern of Allegations

What makes Omuyoma’s acquittal particularly controversial is his alleged history with similar schemes.

According to law enforcement sources, this was far from his first brush with gold fraud allegations.

Investigative records reviewed by Kenya Insights reveal that Omuyoma was arrested in September 2025 by DCI officers along Dennis Pritt Road following a complaint from a Canadian national who claimed to have been defrauded of Sh36.1 million.

In that case, investigators alleged that Omuyoma and an accomplice promised to supply 550 kilograms of gold nuggets and bars supposedly sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The gold never materialized after the victim wired the funds.

In yet another case on August 11, 2021, Omuyoma allegedly obtained Sh8.1 million from a multinational investor by falsely claiming he could sell 15 kilograms of gold.

Sources close to previous investigations paint a picture of a man who lived a flamboyant lifestyle funded by alleged proceeds of fraud.

At one point, he reportedly spent Sh300,000 in a single night on alcohol during a birthday party at the upscale Milan Lounge in Westlands, arriving with expensive vehicles and a large entourage to project an image of a legitimate, successful businessman.

Kenya’s Gold Scam Epidemic

Omuyoma’s case is emblematic of a much larger crisis that has turned Nairobi into what the Directorate of Criminal Investigations describes as a global hub for gold fraud.

“This is a huge cartel, and the cartel they like dropping very big names. A cartel involving Kenyans, Congolese, Liberians, Nigerians, Ghana, and they operate in a very sophisticated manner,” DCI Director-General Amin Mohamed Ibrahim has warned.

The scams typically follow a familiar pattern where foreign investors, lured by promises of cheap African gold, are convinced to wire substantial sums for non-existent minerals allegedly in transit from mineral-rich countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. When the gold fails to materialize, fraudsters claim it has been held up by customs officials and demand additional payments to “clear” the shipment.

According to research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, Kenya’s gold fraud rings have calculated that there is more profit in using genuine gold as bait for scams rather than selling the metal outright.

The organization describes Kenyan gold fraud operations as specializing in financial crime rather than resource crime.

The numbers tell a staggering story. While Kenya officially exports less than 500 kilograms of gold annually, United Arab Emirates import records show tonnes of gold arriving from Kenya each year. UN Comtrade data reveals that in 2021, the UAE reported importing $200 million worth of gold from Kenya, while Kenya’s official export figures showed only $16 million, a discrepancy of $185 million that illustrates the scale of illicit gold movement.

A History of Impunity

Kenya’s gold fraud problem is not new.

The infamous Goldenberg scandal of the 1990s, which involved fraudulent exports of mostly non-existent minerals, cost the country roughly 10 percent of its gross domestic product, an estimated $600 million to $1.5 billion.

Remarkably, despite years of inquiry and prosecution, no one ever went to jail for that grand fraud.

The pattern appears to be repeating.

In one of Kenya’s largest recent scams, a Kenyan senator and a businessperson turned politician allegedly defrauded Emirati company Z Livia FZC of $2 million for 4.6 tonnes of non-existent Congolese gold between 2018 and 2019.

Despite the scandal prompting a meeting between the Emir of the United Arab Emirates and the Kenyan government, and promises of arrests, both politicians have since become elected members of Kenya’s parliament with no publicly available evidence that the promised arrests ever occurred.

Just last month, DCI cracked down on another syndicate operating in Lavington, arresting 14 suspects linked to a $1.35 million fraud that defrauded an American businessman.

The suspects allegedly used a house on Chalbi Drive to facilitate a fraudulent transaction involving a purported 2,820 kilograms of gold between March and May 2024.

Warning to Investors

Anti-fraud experts warn that the sophisticated nature of these scams makes them particularly dangerous for foreign investors unfamiliar with Kenya’s market and legal system.

Common red flags include promises of unrealistic gold quantities at below-market prices, sellers claiming the gold is “off-market” or in transit from neighboring countries, reluctance to allow on-site inspections, and demands for additional payments to clear alleged customs holds.

“If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is,” cautions one investigative report on Kenya’s gold fraud patterns. The report notes that victims are often convinced by the involvement of individuals claiming connections to state officials or by the opulent lifestyles of the fraudsters, which create an illusion of legitimacy.

Questions About the Justice System

Omuyoma’s acquittal has raised fresh questions about Kenya’s ability to prosecute complex financial crimes and protect foreign investors from fraud.

Legal observers note that the burden of proof in criminal cases requires evidence beyond reasonable doubt, and in sophisticated fraud cases, this can be difficult to establish, particularly when funds pass through multiple accounts and jurisdictions.

The acquittal also highlights challenges in prosecuting cases where defendants claim to have acted as agents or intermediaries rather than primary beneficiaries of fraudulent schemes, a defence strategy that appears to have been successful in this instance.

As Omuyoma walked free from Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, the acquittal serves as a stark reminder that despite Kenya’s growing reputation as a gold fraud hotspot, securing convictions remains an uphill battle.

For foreign investors who have lost millions to fake gold scams, the verdict offers little comfort and raises troubling questions about accountability in Kenya’s justice system.

The DCI continues to urge businesspersons to remain vigilant and conduct thorough due diligence before engaging in gold transactions, warning that organized fraudsters remain active and ready to exploit any opportunity to prey on unsuspecting traders.