Businesswoman Agnes Kagure Accused Of Conning German Investor Sh142M In Dubious Oil Deal

At the time of striking the deal, Mr Odenthal was promised that he would receive a percentage of profit from the business in his German bank account every month.

Instead, he has been left looking for €4,500 (Sh641,500) every month to service the loan he took for the investment.

And while he feels the pinch of repaying the loan, Mr Odenthal says he may have dodged a bullet. The German was so convinced with the deal that he intended to invest another €3 million (Sh427 million).

“I feel cheated, stolen from, and defrauded… I had hoped to sell a building for €3 million to inject more capital in the business,” Mr Odenthal said in a statement he recorded with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The promise was that his €1 million would go into a pool of funds other investors had put together, and invest in the petroleum business.

The botched deal dates back to November 19, 2022, when Mr Odenthal received a dinner invite from his friend, Jurgen Haese, another German national who lives in Cologne.

At the dinner, Mr Haese told Mr Odenthal how he could mint millions from the petroleum business in Kenya.

Both are married to Kenyan women, and Mr Haese claimed that his wife, Rose Kirimi, is a close friend of Ms Kagure.

Mr Haese claimed to have invested €2.5 million (Sh356.3 million), and that he was expecting 30 per cent of his investment every year.

Mr Haese said that this was the minimum amount for any investor that wanted in on the deal.

After pondering over the deal and getting confident on account of his friend’s glowing testimonial, Mr Odenthal opted to proceed, but with caution.

He proposed to put €500,000 on the table. The proposal was for Mr Haese to take the money and add it to the €2.5 million he claimed to have already pumped in.

Mr Haese declined and insisted that Mr Haese invest independently.

The two agreed to travel to Nairobi, which would allow Mr Odenthal to conduct his due diligence on the deal.

Mr Odenthal claims that Ms Kagure first contacted him on November 25, 2022.

Mr Odenthal and Mr Haese flew to Kenya on December 18, 2022, and they spent some nights in their spouses’ homes in Nairobi and Diani.

On January 4, 2023, Mr Odenthal met Ms Kagure for the first time when he visited her home. Introductions were done by Ms Kirimi, Mr Haese’s wife.

Mr Odenthal told the DCI that after Ms Kagure made a presentation explaining how petroleum works in Kenya, he intimated that he was ready to invest €500,000 to test the waters for approximately one year.

If things went well, he said he was willing to invest an additional €1.5 million by July 2024.

Ms Kagure was adamant on a minimum of €1.5 million, he adds. A deal was struck when Mr Odenthal said he could not risk more than €1 million.

The German said that after lunch, Ms Kagure drove him around Nairobi, a tour that consumed the entire afternoon.

On January 5, 2023, Mr Odenthal, Mr Haese, their spouses, and Ms Kagure were to travel together to Nanyuki, and meet a company director initially introduced as Benson Mwangi, alias Patron.

Mr Odenthal had been told that the petroleum company is based in Nanyuki.

The man introduced as Patron, Mr Odenthal has told police, would turn out to be Joseph Mwai Nderitu, a co-owner of Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd with 500 shares. The only other owner, records from the Business Registration Service show, is Kinyua Mwangi, with 500 shares.

Ms Kagure, Said Mohamed Farah, and Franklin Were Juma are listed as directors, but with no shares.