Details continue to trickle in, albeit in pieces about the faces behind the fake gold saga that has been a discussion in Kenya since initial reports implicated senior Kenyan politicians.
The latest of the reports has come to lay bare the face of a Nyanza politician as the conman who mimicked the voice of Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i at one point during the scam.
The man who has since been identified as a Mr Joseph Owino Ogendo is said to have been called by the Dubai gold owner in the presence of ODM leader Raila Odinga who would dismiss the voice at the other end of the phone as fake.
“I could not comprehend it because it is a bad thing, I have never dealt in (gold business). I never knew my name can come up in a wrong way but I’m reading malice in the whole thing,” Ogendo told the press.
Monday, Mr Ogendo presented himself at the offices of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to clear his name from the saga whose probe was ordered by President Kenyatta.
Pressed by the journalists to declare what he does for a living, Ogendo said that a huge chunk of his career has been spent in public service
“I served at the ministry of finance for some years, I joined VAT (department) then KRA. For over 25 years I have been a civil servant,” he explained.
Ogendo also said he was granted an early retirement from his former place of work after which he unsuccessfully tried his luck in politics.
He was trounced by the current Nyando Member of Parliament Jared Okello during the 2017 General Elections.
Over the weekend, politicians across the country took to the stage with popular rhetoric on the culpability of senior politicians involved in the gold saga.
Deputy President William Ruto appealed to Raila Odinga to stop dragging President Kenyatta’s name into the scandal.
On his part, Odinga told off Dr Ruto saying that he (Raila) is the one who informed President Kenyatta to order a probe into the matter.
In the crime, Bungoma senator Moses Wetangula was identified as an accomplice to the swindlers.