Man charged in court for ‘stealing’ wife’s car and using it to obtain a loan
A suspected fraudster who allegedly colluded with his accomplices to fraudulently transfer his wife’s car to an accomplice before using it as security to secure a Sh1,714,202 loan facility is facing fraud charges.
David Ouma Nyiendo is facing charges of conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, contrary to section 394 as read with section 36 of the Penal Code.
He is accused of colluding with others to obtain registration for motor vehicle KCZ 801F by pretenses on diverse dates between January 15 and February 10, 2022.
Mr Nyiendo is also facing charges of colluding with others not before the court to willfully transfer a motor vehicle registration certificate (logbook).
The suspect has been accused of transferring the logbook for the motor vehicle by pretending that the registration certificate had been issued by the Directorate of Registration and Licensing at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), knowing the same was false.
He is accused of carrying out the logbook transfer on January 21, 2022 at the NTSA headquarters in Nairobi. Mr Nyiendo has also been charged with using the reportedly forged logbook to obtain the Sh1,714,202 loan from Ngao Credit Limited in Nairobi.
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The accused reportedly presented the car and logbook at the lender’s offices in Upperhil, Nairobi, indicating it belongs to his accomplice Apollo Amollo Otieno knowing the same to be untrue.
Mr Nyiendo is also facing charges of unauthorized access in contravention of section 14 (1) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act of 2018 where he is accused of infringing security measures to access NTSA systems knowing such access is not allowed and changing the ownership of the vehicle in question.
He is further facing charges of colluding with others suspected to be NTSA officials to transfer the ownership of the car from Leila Wamware to Apollo Otieno. Mr Otieno has been charged with similar charges.
Mr Otieno went to the lender on January 15, 2022 for a loan, claiming he wanted to boost his alcohol supply business and he was given all terms that he needed to comply with and he agreed.
He submitted the required documents and the vehicle’s logbook as security for the loan and the credit facility was extended to him a few days later after the verification process.
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He was to repay the loan in monthly installments of Sh134,800 until the total loan was paid. Mr Otieno later defaulted payment and when he was contacted calls to his phone went unanswered.
The vehicle, which had been fitted with a tracking device by the credit firm, was tracked to Tana River County. The company contracted auctioneers to repossess the car and it was found being driven by Ms Wamware’s driver.
The driver informed his employer, who had no idea of the loan obtained using her car, and she instructed the driver not to surrender the car.
Investigations by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) established that the car belonged to Ms Wamware and its ownership had been transferred to another person before it was transferred to Mr Otieno.
Otieno was charged in June and has been out on bond as the DCI continued tracing Mr Nyiendo who is suspected to have colluded with him and others in the fraudulent activities around the car and the loan.
Mr Nyiendo denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Hellen Okwani of the Makadara Law Courts and was released on a bond of Sh500,000 and an alternative cash bail of Sh300,000. The hearing of the case is scheduled to start on November 16, 2023.
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