Two in court for defrauding athlete of Sh300,000 in police recruitment scam
Two people who allegedly defrauded celebrated athlete Mercy Jelangat of Sh300,000 promising to enlist her jobless cousin into the national police Service were on Friday charged with obtaining the money by false pretenses.
The two, Lilian Awuor and Abdalla Anyienda, are accused of defrauding the athlete of the cash on diverse dates between April 1 and April 4, 2022 at Kasarani Sub County in Nairobi contrary to section 313 of the penal code.
They are accused of colluding with others who are still at large to commit the offence while purporting they were in position to recruit Jelangat’s cousin into the National Police Service knowing the same was not true.
Ms Jelangat was informed by her friend that he had met influential people in government who could influence and help her enlist her cousin into the NPS during the March 2022 recruitment exercise.
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She got a phone number of one of the people who are suspects in the case being sought by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and contacted him. She later sent the person Sh300,000 in two batches through M-Pesa.
After receiving the cash, the suspect switched off the phone and hence Ms Jelangat’s cousin was never recruited into the NPS.
Ms Jelangat reported the matter at the Kasarani Police Station in March. The DCI took over the investigations and arrested the two accused persons.
Ms Awuor and Mr Anyienda denied the charges before Principal Magistrate Eric Mutunga of Makadara Law Courts. They were released on a bond of Sh150,000 and an alternative cash bail of Sh100,000. The case will be mentioned on June 14, 2023 before hearing starts on September 21, 2023.
The two were charged barely two months after a suspected fraudster who was arrested allegedly in the process of conning youths seeking employment with the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) was charged with impersonation.
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Paul Maina Kirera was arrested at the KFS headquarters in Karura along Kiambu road in Nairobi where he had allegedly introduced himself as a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officer of the rank of Brigadier to security officers at the highly guarded offices on February 24, 2023.
Mr Kirera was charged with personating a public officer contrary to section 105 (b) of the penal code after allegedly telling KFS’ chief inspector Charles Kimeli that he is a public officer employed by the KDF.
He is facing three similar counts of personation where he is accused of falsely presenting himself as a brigadier to three different KFS security officers at the gate on the same date.
Mr Kirera denied the charges before Makadara Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia and pleaded for lenient bail terms claiming he is sickly. He was freed on a bond of Sh100,000 and a cash bail of a similar amount. The matter is still pending before court.
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