Court Told How A Nairobi Fraud Real Estate Agent Conned US Auditor Sh16M In Fake Karen Land Deal

A senior police detective yesterday told a Nairobi court he arrested a real estate agent from Karen estate after completing investigations into a Sh16 million fraud case against him.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Chelang’a, a deputy DCIO Kasarani concluded his testimony saying that during investigations, he established that the accused person made several transactions after fraudulently obtaining the money from a New York based private auditor.

Chelang’a took Milimani Chief magistrate Susan Shitubi (pictured) through several bank documents which indicating that the complainant operated the bank accounts at the two banks namely Equity Bank Limited and National Industrial Credit Bank Limited.

He told court that the accused Stephen Njoroge Mbugua, a real estate agent lied to the complainant Joseph Gitau, a New York based auditor that he was in a position to purchase for him land in Karen, Nairobi county.

Chelang’a also took the court through bank statements showing how the complainant deposited money to pay Mbugua.

The fraud

Gitau, said he wired the money into the accused’s Dollar Account held at a local bank’s Karen Branch on October 1, 2017.

“Soon after I transferred the money through New York Bankers I called  Mbugua for him to confirm whether he had received the same in his Dollar Account, at a local Bank, Karen Branch,” recalled Gitau.

He told the court, Mbugua confirmed receipt of the money after three days as he had switched off his phone, then flew to Philipines for specialized treatment after allegedly contracting chickenpox.

Gitau said he kept communicating via email and Whatsapp to the accused about transferring the money to his Kenyan Bank as earlier agreed before concluding the sale agreement.

He testified to date he has never gotten his money back despite concerted efforts which culminated in him asking the Police to intervene. He also has not been allocated the land.

The magistrate heard in mid-2017, Gitau travelled from New York to Nairobi to be shown by the accused the upmarket property he had bought.

“How did you learn there was land being sold in Karen Nairobi while in New York,” Gitau was asked by state prosecutor Anderson Gikunda.

“Mbugua had placed an advertisement since he was in a real estate business,” he answered.

In the advert read out to the magistrate,  Mbugua had alleged there were “half-acre plots lined for sale at Karen Nairobi”.

The complainant said after seeing the advert on the web of the accused, he called him as they had worked together for four years before flying out for greener pastures and the accused plunging into real estate ventures. They kept on communicating.

The witness produced a sale agreement between him and the accused over the sale of the said Karen property. He also tabled correspondences’ between them.

In his bid to recover either his money or land and to avoid litigation, Mr Gitau told Ms Mutuku he invoked alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in vain.

“I even informed the accused sister to ask him to pay me in vain,”  Gitau told the court.