Detectives probe Sh37m fraud linked to Afya House

Detectives are looking for people who defrauded a businessman. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The businessman was issued with a document purported to be a Local Purchase Order (LPO) from the ministry to supply the goods.
  • It was only when the businessman started following up on payment that he was informed that he had been dealing with fraudsters.

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives have arrested suspected impersonators said to have used offices in the Ministry of Health headquarters in Nairobi to fraudulently obtain goods worth Sh37 million from a businessman.

Also being sought are two people believed to be Administration Police drivers and another who claimed to be from the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa), who used vehicles alleged to be from the two institutions last week.

The suspects, led by a woman, are reported to have posed as senior Ministry of Health officials and lured Eastleigh businessman Ibrahim Adan into handing over 20,000 boxes of hand gloves, 1,000 pieces of non-contact infrared thermometers and 579 boxes of face masks worth Sh37 million.

Investigators have established that the meetings were held in an Afya House boardroom used by the Human Resources department to which the arrested female suspect allegedly had keys.

The businessman alleged that every time he asked to meet the ‘MOH officers’, he would be asked to go to Afya House, where he found them waiting and they would quickly whisk him past the security officers at the reception.

“I did not suspect anything because I was never stopped by security officers at Afya House whenever I went for meetings. These people would come down and take me past the guards into the boardroom for meetings,” Mr Adan said.

SUSPECTS ARRESTED

Investigators say the goods were partly delivered based on a fictitious restricted Ministry of Health tender MOH/DPPH/DNMP/001/GF-ONT/2019-2020 dated May 4, 2020 supposedly awarded to Rocketway Construction Ltd for the supply of 20,000 non-powdered hand gloves worth Sh19 million, 1,000 pieces of non-contact infrared thermometers worth Sh18.5 million and 575 boxes of face masks.

The key suspects — Mercy Waihiga Wanjiku, aka Linda Masake Mugundu, was arrested by Parklands DCI detectives while two others, George Otieno Otanga and an accomplice — are being held at the Kilimani Police Station, where they were arrested in a separate case of obtaining goods by false pretences.

Although she doesn’t work at Afya House, detectives are investigating allegations that Ms Wanjiku had keys to the boardroom and even let herself and two of her accomplices into the room minutes before DCI detectives stormed in and arrested her. Her accomplices managed to escape.

Ms Wanjiku was taken to court on Friday. Detective sergeant Elias Kariuki, attached to the DCI offices in Parklands, told Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Nanzushi of the Milimani Law Courts that investigations were underway.

He was making an application to hold Ms Wanjiku for 14 days to conclude investigations.

“The investigations are still in progress with the aim of recovery of the said items and arrest of the remaining suspects still at large, who include officials from the Ministry of Health, and the respondent [Wanjiku] would be of great assistance in enabling the investigating officer to accomplish this,” Sgt Kariuki said, adding that releasing the respondent would jeopardise investigations.

BRIBE DEMAND

However, the magistrate released Ms Wanjiku on a Sh200,000 bond but directed her to present herself to investigators at the Parklands DCI offices until June 5.

Mr Adan told detectives that he was approached by a friend who claimed to have been awarded a letter of notification for the supply of equipment worth Sh37.5 million and sought financial assistance.

The two agreed that Mr Adan would procure and supply the goods on his behalf and share the profits.

The woman posing as a ministry employee arranged for a meeting in the Afya House boardroom the next day where they met.

The businessman was issued with a document purported to be a Local Purchase Order (LPO) from the ministry to supply the goods.

After three meetings at Afya House, Ms Wanjiku is alleged to have informed the businessman that ministry inspectors had established that the goods that had by then been stored in Ngara were expiring soon and demanded a Sh3 million bribe for the officials to approve the supply.

Mr Adan alleges he gave out Sh2.3 million before a lorry and a truck with AP service colours and another alleged to be from Kemsa, escorted by armed suspected rogue police officers in uniform, were loaded with the goods and driven off.

It was only when the businessman started following up on payment that he was informed that he had been dealing with fraudsters.

Detectives have recovered some boxes of gloves in Kitengela as investigations continue.

Additional reporting by Joseph Ndunda