It is alleged that William Simiyu, David Luganya, Gilbert Kirunja, Duncan Muchai, Isaac Wajekeche, Joseph Waswa and Anthony Wafula planned and conned Sameer Africa boss out of Sh10 million by pretending to be President Uhuru Kenyatta by using mobile number 0722 208842.
At the time the call was made, Sameer Africa chairman Naushad Merali was outside the country and was involved in a juicy land buying deal by the fraudsters.
In a long conversation with patience and perseverance, the suspects asked Mr Mereali to release money to facilitate the purchase of land while mimicking the voice of the President.
Mr Merali then directed Sameer Africa Finance Director Akif Hamid Butt to process the money, not knowing that the caller was duping him.
According to Mr Butt, the money he was to wire was to buy land in Milimani, Nairobi County.
The suspects gave the number of an Equity Bank account into which he wired Sh10 million. “The complainant (Butt) was contacted by fraudsters using several telephone numbers purportedly from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The complainant realised he had been dealing with fraudsters after he had lost his Sh10 million,” said Mr Mwangi.
Police investigators however suspect the con game had other players, including State House staff and Police as it emerged that men dressed in expensive suits would arrive in the office of the targeted victim and introduce themselves as the staff of State House sent by the President to collect cash.
The “State House Officials” were also said to have used high-end vehicles and with a police escort, collect the cash and disappear while under tight security and police escort.
Police have since impounded three high-end vehicles that included Toyota Land Cruisers and V8’s that the conmen used in their operations. . Police asked the magistrate to allow the seven suspects, who were arrested on February 22-23 of this month, to be detained in a bid to get information on who else was in the plot to obtain money by false pretences.
“Due to the complexity of the investigations and the number of suspects involved, including some who are still at large, it is expected that the investigation will involve going through voluminous documents, including bank documents and call data records analysis,” said Mwangi. “The nature of investigations is complex since it requires communication data from several service providers, which requires time.”