Heritage Flower Ltd Director Shailesh Kumar Rai Charged With Sh107 Million Fraud

The director of Heritage Flowers Limited Shailesh Kumar Rai has been charged with stealing Sh107 from the company.

Rai is accused of committing the offence between September 2021 and August 2022.

According to the charge sheet, Rai is said to have stolen Sh10, 520, 919.00, Euros 368,416.71 and USD 348,166.94 which came to his possession by virtue of his employment.

Rai, his wife Ranjeeta Pandey Rai, Isaac Ikua Kihara, and Chris Oyunge Ontita were also charged with conspiring to defraud Heritage Flowers Limited company Sh117,718,596.

The couple and Rosalia Blooms Limited faced another charge of money laundering where they were accused of engaging in a transaction to conceal Sh107 million at Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) knowing very well the money was proceeds of crime.

The charge read: “Between 21 September 2021and August 2022, at Diamond Trust Bank in Nairobi County within Republic of Kenya, jointly with intent to unlawfully dispose monies stolen from Heritage Flowers Limited, jointly engaged in a transaction to conceal an amount of Euro368,416.71 and USD 348,166.94, whilst having reasons to believe the said monies were proceeds of crime.”

Charge sheet.

The accused are also charged with other counts of forging different documents at different times including Minutes of the Operation Meeting management team, commission agreement, a loan agreement between Rosalia Blooms Ltd and Kumar, Minutes of Virtual Meeting and a trust deed purporting each to be genuine and signed.

The four appeared before Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Gilbert Shikwe where they denied the charges. A warrant of arrest was issued against Pandey who did not appear in court.

The three suspects were ordered detained at Muthaiga police station until Monday July 31 when the court will rule on their bail application.

Rai has worked in the flower industry for almost 30 years. He dove into a new adventure and they bought a 60 ha land plot in Rumuruti, where they built 12ha of greenhouses and named the farm Heritage Flowers Ltd in 2019.