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How two businessmen lost Sh1.9 million in fake car purchase deals

By Joseph Ndunda September 15th, 2022 2 min read

A suspected fraudster who conned two businessmen over Sh1.9 million in fake car deals has been charged with obtaining money by false pretenses contrary to section 313 of the penal code.

Mr Charles Komo Onyango is facing charges of obtaining Sh1,374,212 from Nemuel Okemwa with intent to defraud between May 14th and July 5th this year.

Mr Onyango is said to have colluded with others who are still at large to defraud the complainant while pretending he was in a position to assist him purchase a Mercedes Benz C180 from the port of Mombasa knowing the same to be false.

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He is also facing charges of defrauding Mr Okemwa’s business partner Hezborn Martin of Sh567,000 while pretending he was in a position to help the complainant buy a Toyota Mark X from the Kenya Ports Authority in Mombasa knowing the same was false.

Mr Okemwa was introduced to Mr Onyango and his accomplices by his business partner and they began a conversation about the car that he intended to buy. He was later offered a deal and convinced to start sending the money to prove his seriousness in the deal.

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Mr Okemwa had received pictures of his car of choice before he started sending cash to Mr Onyango and his accomplices. The two businessmen were later taken to a yard in Mombasa where they were shown the cars before making more payments for the cars and clearance fees through bank transfers.

They later returned to Nairobi to wait for the cars but Mr Onyango allegedly kept asking for more money which they continued sending. The accused person later stopped picking the complainant’s phone calls and did not deliver the vehicles prompting them to report the matter to the police. Mr Onyango was traced and arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

He denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Derrick Kutto at the Kibera Law Courts and granted a bond of Sh500,000 and an alternative cash bail of Sh350,000. The matter will be mentioned on October 3 for pre-trial and fixing of hearing dates.

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