Nairobi News

Flying Squad detectives have arrested a suspected fraudster accused of fleecing members of the public millions of money by false pretense.

Zachary Mwangi Kariuki was arrested by flying squad officers on Friday in Limuru after being on the run for some time after allegedly conning unsuspecting members of the public.

Flying Squad head Musa Yego said that since the arrest of Mr Kariuki, more than 20 people have come forward to share their plight at the hands of the man.

He said Mr Kariuki was being sought for a number of cases relating to a warrant of arrest issued by several courts.

“We managed to arrest him in Limuru and realized he has six warrants of arrest for obtaining money from members of public who have turned in large numbers to report to the flying squad unit on how they have been conned by the man,” said Mr Yego on Saturday at the unit’s office in Nairobi.

In 2013, Kariuki was also on the run for obtaining money through false pretenses with a pending warrant of arrest for a number of pending cases in court. He had been arrested before, but went missing shortly after paying bail.

Mr Yego said they will arraign him in court to answer to the charges.

“Last week I got a warrant requiring me to be arrested for failing to arraign him in court because he had been released on bond from court so we had to act,” he said.

He stated that Kariuki has been luring people by promising them that their money will earn interest but so far not a single individual has even received a single cent yet they have been conned millions in the process.

CONNED VICTIMS

“Let people be very conscious when dealing with such companies as we have realized there are many Kariukis,” said Mr Yego.

One such victim is Monica Njambi who said he was introduced to Mr Kariuki’s company called Imperial World Ventures Limited located in Westlands by a friend called Francis last year.

Njambi narrated how she decided to take up the opportunity on July 24 last year and invested Sh1 million, which she got after selling a plot, which was to fetch her Sh600,000 after six months.

Njambi said that Mr Kariuki told them that he would invest the money in a bank and get 30 percent which he was to give the investors 10 percent of the amount.

“I was only paid once although the contract stated that we would invest for 6 months then withdraw the principal. But this did not happen. I reported the case at Parklands Police Station in March but the officer who took my statement did nothing,” said Ms Njambi.

Njambi said that when she learnt that Mr Kariuki had been arrested she took the chance to come forward, together with other affected individuals, to register their grievances.