When the six defendants appeared before Magistrate Dolphina Alego, she rejected the prosecution’s request for an adjournment. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) sought additional time to finalize investigations, but Alego opted to set a ruling date for July 1, 2025, regarding the potential release of the suspects.
The magistrate indicated that she would determine whether the miscellaneous case file would be closed and whether the passports deposited in court by the suspects would be returned to the investigating officer. In this case, lawyer Kimani Wachira is representing the two complainants, while lawyer Danstan Omari is defending all six suspects.
Previously, Magistrate Alego had granted Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Amin Mohammed an extension to complete inquiries into a criminal case involving the suspects, who are alleged to be connected to a fraudulent gold scam amounting to Sh 70 million. Chief Inspector Leah Ambiche, the lead investigator from the DCI, was also given more time to finalize her investigations concerning the suspects—Nfundiko Kamira Jean Marie, Alan Zaphenia Onyango, Edward Leonard Ochieng, Shem Omollo Onyango, Peter Lukabaya Mulamba, and Ibrahim Nsangou—who are implicated in the fraudulent gold scheme in the city.
The magistrate approved the request for an extension from CI Ambiche to allow for a thorough decision on whether to formally charge the suspects. Currently, all six individuals are out on cash bail of Sh 500,000 each while investigations continue, and they are required to provide two contact persons each. According to an affidavit submitted by CI Ambiche, the complainants reported that the six defendants had allegedly obtained USD 546,000 (approximately Sh 70 million) through fraudulent means.
The court heard that the complainants, Ramadhan Suleiman Mohamed and George William Betoka reported that on diverse dates between March 6 and 10,2025 the six respondents had with them six metallic boxes with nuggets purported to be gold weighing 305 Kgs, 2 weighing machine(one big one small) and an electronic gold tester gun.
Others items used to lure the complainants included a dust coat branded Ministry of mining, job card purportedly from Ministry of Mining indicating employment number 00427, assorted documents bearing the logo of Ministry of Mining, numerical seals yellow in colour, white helmet and unidentified liquid in a small jerrican for use in the course of cheating.
According to Ambiche, the buyer Sudmet Global (FZE) UAE intended to buy 150 Kgs of gold from Jean Marie.
“The first respondent and the buyer through the representatives agreed on a purchase price of USD 65,000 per Kilogram,” the investigator told the court.
CI Ambiche told the court that from the footage obtained from the scene, Jean Marie introduced the representatives of the buyer to his agent, Alan Onyango.
They were allegedly shown gold samples at a residence in Muthaiga where the 3rd respondent ( Edward Ochieng) was actively involved in the sampling process and the 4th respondent (Shem Onyango) was the purported mining official from the Ministry of Mining.
Chief Inspector Ambiche said that Shem Onyango tested the alleged gold nugget samples with his electronic gold tester gun confirming its purity.
It is alleged that the first, second, third and fourth respondents then took the representatives of the buyer to the Ministry of Mining offices where the sample was tested and assay report dated 4th March 2025.
According to court documents, on the same day the 1st and 2nd respondents gave the complainants 7kgs of gold as collateral, which they were adviced to keep at MySafe Place at Sarit Centre. Both parties (buyer’s side and the seller’s side) were issued with the key to the safe.
Afterwards, Jean Marie and Alan Onyango then introduced the complainants to Kristal Commodities Group Limited, an alleged licensed dealer with Ministry of Mining & Shipping company that was to prepare the paperwork for shipping the gold consignment to Dubai.
On the same day, the shipping company through the two respondents gave the complainants an invoice of USD 546,000 dated 4th March, 2025 for the said paperwork.
The court heard that Jean Marie and his team preferred to be paid in either USD or cash but the complainants recommended the buyer to pay via wire transfer.
CI Ambiche said that when the buyer did a wire transfer to the account number of Kristal Commodities Group Limited, it failed to go through.
“On diverse dates between March 6 and 10, 2025, the buyer through his representative, Mohamed paid the invoiced amount of USD 546,000 which was received by Jean Marie in the presence of his team members. (the transaction is captured on video). They were then issued with sales receipts.
Now, Jean Marie was supposed to ship the 150Kgs consignment to Dubai but never did. They also found out that the collateral gold at Mysafe was just stones.
The investigator said that in order to nab the perpetrators, the complainants planned another sale for the purchase of 500 Kgs of gold.
Seeing a sweeter deal, the complainant was issued an invoice from SKR Logistics Limited for Sh 2,680,800 on April 17, 2025.
In this deal, Jean Marie allegedly introduced Peter Mulamba as the seller as per the new sale agreement.
