Police arrest Simple Homes scandal ‘mastermind’
Detectives on Friday arrested Nuzrat Sharif, the woman suspected to be the mastermind of a real estate scam dubbed ‘Simple Homes’.
In a statement, by the DCI said 31-year-old Ms Sharif was tracked down by detectives attached to Lang’ata and arrested her within Nyali in Mombasa County.
The suspect was arrested for her connection with a company identified as Dinm Evitaerc limited that had offices in Parklands in 2019 which was luring unsuspecting Kenyans into a business known as Monetized Cars Ltd.
“After receiving money from unsuspecting Kenyans, the company closed shop and went under,” said DCI.
Detectives said Nuzrat is married to Yasin Abubakr Kodhek alias Eugene Kodhek who is suspected to have swindled unsuspecting Kenyans over Sh500 million in a scam dubbed “Simple Homes”.
According to the detectives, Nuzrat Sharif tricked her mother Nurjahan Mohamed into opening various companies for the scam.
Lost money in the scam
The companies were identified as Proop Tellub Ltd (Bullet Proop), Dinm Evitaerc Ltd (Creative Mind), Kehdok Saniwagra Igniwga (Agwingi Argawings Kodhek), Rkab Uba Nisay (Yasin Abubakr) and EOAH.
The DCI has made an appeal to members of the public who may have lost money in the scam to report at Lang’ata DCI offices.
Directors of Simple Homes Kenya, which was famous for the “rent as you own” model of homeownership, went missing on February 27, 2017.
After closing shop, it was established that they had swindled Kenyans an estimated Sh500 million. The sham company had packaged itself as a developer and a commission agency, selling homes on behalf of other builders.
Set up in October 2015, it promised to revolutionise the Kenyan property market and make it possible for people to own homes at the price they pay in rent.
Through the firm’s Home Purchase Plan (HPP), buyers were required to place a 25 percent deposit of the house value which was about Sh250,000 and then pay the balance in equal instalments for five to 40 years interest-free.
The houses were located in an upmarket neighbourhood that had houses going for close to Sh40 million.
The company marketed itself as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and allegedly owned by a former magistrate, a Meru businessman and a Nairobi MP.
The firm used fake pictures of projects in South Africa to swindle millions of shillings from unsuspecting customers.
The company was registered not as a Sacco at the Registrar of Companies, but as a Development Consortium.