Man charged with Sh1.3 million online deal gone sour
A suspected online fraudster who allegedly received Sh1.3 million from a trader while promising to supply kitchen equipment, appliances, and utensils but failed to do so has been charged with fraud.
At Kibera law courts, Stevens Omondi is accused of obtaining Sh1,385,000 from Fiona Wacuka on diverse dates between June 25 and September 30 last year at Italian Kitchen Limited in Westlands, Nairobi.
Omondi, a cop-director of Italian Kitchen Limited is accused of conspiring with others to receive the money from Wacuka while falsely pretending they were in a position to import a white mia kitchen for her from Italy knowing the same was false.
Wacuka had chanced on the company online while searching for the items she wanted to buy for her mother.
She later visited the company’s offices in Westlands in Nairobi where she negotiated for the items’ price and they settled on the amount then she placed an order.
The complainant was given a bank account to deposit the cash and wait for the items to be delivered in two months’ time.
At the end of September, she did not receive the consignment as promised and when she contacted the company, she was promised the items will be delivered in December.
In December she was told the items will be delivered in March and in March she was told the items cannot be delivered.
She visited the company’s offices but she was locked out and denied entry. She reported the matter to the police and Omondi was traced and arrested.
At the court, Omondi denied the charges before Resident Magistrate William Tullen and lamented through a lawyer that he was being charged alone while his co-directors remained free.
He was released on a Sh1.5 million and an alternative cash bail of Sh1 million.
The case will be mentioned on May 19 for a pre-trial.