Woman in court for defrauding ‘chama’ members
An official of a self-help group has been charged with defrauding three of the group’s members of Sh70,000 after they made contributions to invest.
Ms Monica Lwangu is accused of cheating Felister Kioko to give her Sh14,000 by means of fraudulent tricks at Park Road in Starehe Sub County, Nairobi on diverse dates between October 2022 and March 2023 contrary to section 315 of the penal code.
The accused person is facing a second count of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the penal code. She is accused of colluding with others at large to obtain Sh14,000 from Rose Salamba during the same period.
In the third count, Ms Lwangu is accused of conspiring with accomplices to obtain Sh42,000 by means of fraudulent tricks from Josephine Nzioka.
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The accused person and the complainants came together in October last year and formed the chama together with others – with a membership of more than 10 members and started making contributions.
The members had envisioned buying a parcel of land in Nanyuki, Laikipia County to build rental apartments to enhance their earnings. They agreed to be contributing Sh700 weekly for the venture.
After a few months, members began suspecting something wrong after officials suspended physical meetings and directed members cash directly to Ms Lwangu who is the treasurer.
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When some of the members raised complaints over the matter, they were removed from the group and they demanded a refund of the money they had contributed during the period they were active members.
However, the said officials stopped receiving calls from the members removed from the group and allegedly declined to refund the money and the complainants reported the matter at the Pangani police station leading to the arrest of Ms Lwangu who was the treasurer.
Ms Lwangu denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Gerald Mutiso of the Makadara Law Courts and sought for lenient bail and bond terms through an advocate.
She was released on a bond of Sh50,000. The case will be mentioned on July 27, 2023 for a pretrial and fixing of hearing dates.
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