Ruto’s Man Among The 3 Arraigned In Sh60M Laptop Tender Fraud

A serial fraudster who has been using his photos with president William Ruto to con his victims is among three suspects who’ve been charged in court for conning a foreigner Sh60 million in a fake laptop tender scam.

The hearing of the case in which three suspects, Alex Stephen Ogolla alias Oparanya, Mofat Gicheru aka Aden and Eric Otieno Atanga are charged for defrauding a British national USD 398,000 in a fake tender project to supply laptops and other accessories to the Ministry of ICT in March 2023 has been set for 29th, 30th and 31st of October, 2024.

The three are accused of obtaining the amount equivalent to Sh60 million through their supposed companies namely Violand Investment Ltd and Battre Africa Ltd after hoodwinking the complainant into believing that he was pre-qualified for the supply.

In the well-orchestrated scheme that involved several travels to UK by the fraudsters while armed with forged documents, the unsuspecting victim lost the amount as charges for prequalification, purchase, facilitation and handling.

Exhausting avenues of milking the victim further, the suspects cut off communication and holed up, until the Operation Support Unit detectives uncovered their fraudulence and hunted them down at Kasarani, Athi River and Kariobangi North.

Upon arraignment at the Milimani Law Courts, the three were released on Sh3 million bond with one surety of the same amount and without the option of a cash bail, with the pre-trial happening today at court no. 2 for confirmation of the documents to be relied on by the prosecution.

Two accompices who are still on the run; Stephen Nadade and Joy Wangari Kamau believed to have played key roles in the machinations before disappearing with part of the obtained amount are being pursued.

Alex Stephen Ogolla alias Oparanya who has been pictured in several occasions with the president has been using the photos to dupe his victims claiming his closeness to the president.

He doesn’t hold any government position and it’s unclear his relationship is with the president apart from the photos.

The incident is also similar to that of one Isaiya Begi Gesicho who was charged for defrauding Jane Prema Peter of Sh1 million by falsely pretending that he was in position to secure lucrative tenders on her behalf at government and private sector which turned out to be a lie as he lacked such high level connections to deliver the promise. Jane aid associated with companies including I-Parts Contractors and Lami Inya Contractors Limited. In Kenya, getting tenders through manipulation and influence is also considered a crime.