Safara out for blood after a sonar swindle
What you need to know:
- A short while later, the email came through – the Hustler had been cleared to supply 1,000 litres of the aquatic herbicide.
- If I did not have the capacity (money) to do so all in one lot, I could bring it in batches.
- “Mr Li,” I called my Chinese connection, “I need the 500K I deposited with you.”
My plan for today had been to spend the entire day at the Baraza Media Lab, relaxing by watching the premieres of 19 short movies at the Solutions Film Festival, sponsored by the Skoll Foundation, and presented by ‘Docubox’ that is headed by the legendary film director and founder, Judith Kibinge.
Instead, I was hot on the heels of some city swindlers, whom I am determined to see put behind bars if they do not do the right thing by The Safara. But I am getting ahead of my tale today.
Let’s roll back the clock many years back to when I was in Kenyatta University taking my undergraduate degree.
There was this dude, Dan Odhiambo, who ran the printing shop.
So we meet up end of April 2024, in the middle of all my hassling, and Dan tells me he works for ‘Albat and Lari Solutions,’ a procurement firm on Gitanga Road.
He has a deal for me.
“Can you supply us with Sonar PR, an aquatic herbicide?”
“I can supply solar flares if there is a profit in it, Odhis,” I chuckled. “Why can’t you do it yourself, Dan?”
“Can’t!” Odhiambo shrugged. “Conflict of interest.”
Which is how I found myself at the offices of Albat and Lari, admiring the smart apartments of Gitanga Close, vowing to live in such a place myself someday soon. “Kusota na kuteseka ni kwa mda tu,” I said.
Meeting a man called Martin Opondo, he formally took note of my Expression of Interest to supply the Sonar herbicide, and a lady called Susan was at hand with the Local Purchase Order (LPO).
They agreed I bring a sample to their offices ASAP for approval first.
No sooner had I called Dan Odhiambo when the meeting with Susan and Opondo was done, and he had yet another useful tip.
“Go to Comet Mall,” Dan advised. “You will find a Sonar sample there.”
I did, and after paying Sh20,000 for the sample litres, I was on my way with it to the Albat & Lari offices, where Susan and Opondo took it.
A short while later, the email came through – the Hustler had been cleared to supply 1,000 litres of the aquatic herbicide. If I did not have the capacity (money) to do so all in one lot, I could bring it in batches.
“Mr Li,” I called my Chinese connection, “I need the 500K I deposited with you.”
“You longer no int-lest in investment in Safara Mass Colour company?”
“I need to double that dough if I’m to make your million by end month.”
“Be care full out there mai-kor,” the Chinese mall mandarin warned me.
“I know where they work,” I chuckled to him. “If they try to pull a fast one, you send your men to promote them all to higher glory, okay sir?”
Then Dan Odhiambo popped up, as a friend, with one more Ace card.
“I know a wholesaler of Sonar called Onesmus Mbaku Kimanzi,” he told me. “He can supply the stuff at Sh17,000 instead of Sh20,000 per litre.”
I quickly did the math – that would leave me with Sh75,000 from the half a million shillings that tycoon Li Zhang had returned to my bank account. Half the ‘blood money’ that had been in the light blue duffel bag when my cousin Safari got washed away in those April flash floods.
That would pay my 25K flat rent, another 25K would be Neo’s fees (hopefully softening Laura’s heart too) and the remaining 25,000 bob carry me daily through May.
Meanwhile, on April 30, via Mpesa, I sent Sh100,000 for 25 per cent of the 100 litres to the wholesaler Onesmus M Kimanzi, with the till number reflecting as ‘Danada Merchants.”
The following day, after pressure from Dan Odhiambo (who said I would be paid ASAP after Labour Day), I deposited another Sh325,000 into the bank account of Danada Merchants.
Thursday, May 2, I am calling Onesmus Mbaka Kimanzi.
“We finished our chemical supplies at our Industrial Area warehouse,” he told me. “In-fact we are on the way to collect more from Namanga.”
“Who’s we?” I asked.
“Me and Dan,” Onesmus Kimanzi replied.
And that is when it hit me – ‘Danada Merchants’ was of course DAN Odhiambo. He was in cahoots with this so-called wholesaler Onesmus.
And ‘Albat & Lari’ were in all probability, a scam.
How could I have been so trusting of a chap I last saw in KU years ago?
I took the case to Central Police Station, and one of the investigators quickly confirmed after a trace that while my ‘wholesaler’ had claimed they had spent the night in Namanga, the location was really Roysambu.
To add insult to injury, after I tried to reverse the transaction, Onesmus actually called me to ask WHY I was trying to reverse the transaction.
Then to compound it all, I get an email from Albat & Lari ‘confirming’ they received the 100 litres of Sonar, but would only pay when I supplied them with all 250 litres. That is why the ‘Safara’ is seeing red today!
If these swindlers don’t refund the cheddar, then the DCI will have to go for the criminals – although I have also provided the chinku mandarin with names, numbers and addresses of these scammers, if necessary.
