Investigators from the National Intelligence Service are trying to piece together a case linking a senior judge to a counterfeit currency syndicate.
A team from the Transnational Organised Crime Unit and the police arrested
Arafat Omar, alias Omar Rashid
(a Kenyan), and Fidel Ako (a Ghanaian) on Monday and yesterday, respectively. The two were also charged.
Police were allowed to continue interrogating
Omar. Ako, who was charged with various offences, including money laundering, was released on
Sh200,000 cash bail. There are valid deportation orders against Ako.
Some of the currencies confiscated
The two were were arrested in Nairobi on Saturday night and found in possession of fake currency amounting to $523,900, Sh500,000 genuine Kenyan currency, a Taurus pistol belonging to Omar and several rounds of ammunition.
But perhaps the most surprising connection made following Omar’s arrest is his association with a well-known judge.
An analysis of Omar’s communication shows the two have been in communication on several occasions, and have a sexual relationship.
Currencies confiscated
“We are trying to ascertain the nature of this peculiar relationship and whether the judge could have been a victim or an accomplice to the cartel,” a source involved in investigations told the Star.
If the judge was a victim, why was the matter allowed to go unreported, allowing the cartel to continue exploiting innocent Kenyans? the source asked.
“And how could a person of such senior stature fall prey to the machinations of a criminal cartel?”
ID's
The judge, according to investigators is likely to be called as a witness or be charged alongside Omar as an accomplice.
Before the arrests were made, detectives had received complaints from members of the public, detailing how the two alongside others had defrauded them on the pretext
they would supply genuine US dollars brought into the country for use by United Nations missions.
Omar fronts himself as a Sudanese army commander, answering to the name Rashid Ashid, complete with a fake Arabic accent.
Cars belonging to two suspects
He is typically introduced to a potential victim by a mutual friend as a Sudanese investor living abroad and planning to bring foreign currency into the country.
The foreign currency is then used to lure the victim into giving money to cater for certificates of origin and taxes. At some point the victim is shown fake dollars with some markings. The cartel then claims
the marks can only be removed using a particular device and specific chemicals.
The syndicate runs rings round the victim, constantly shifting goal-posts while soliciting more money and promising repayment with a high interest rate. Most victims, upon realising they have been conned, are too embarrassed to report.
A taurus pistol belonging to Omar
The main targets are women. In another case, Omar is said to have conned the wife of another judge out of Sh30 million. He also made unsuccessful attempt to con the owner of an airline, whose plane crashed in Sudan, by offering to help her get payment from an insurance company that covered the aircraft.
During that meeting, Omar introduced himself as Arafat, a diplomat based at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi.