• Through investigation officer Joash Talai, who is attached to Serious Crime Unit at the DCI, the state had sought 14 days to detain the suspects.
• But magistrate Abdul, however, said there was no compelling reason to warrant the court to grant more days.
Image: FILE
A Nairobi court has ordered five suspects linked to the over Sh35 million fake gold fraud case to be released on Sh30,000 cash bail each pending conclusion of investigations.
Utia Robert Kudi, Robinson Kitau, Livai Kombo, Fatuma Mohammed and Eva Kimotho were released by Milimani senior resident magistrate Zainab Abdul after dismissing the prosecution application seeking to continue detaining them for 14 more days to complete investigations.
Through investigation officer Joash Talai, who is attached to Serious Crime Unit at the DCI, the state had sought 14 days to detain the suspects.
Magistrate Abdul, however, said there was no compelling reason to warrant the court to grant more days.
Talai said the suspects were arrested on December 6, 2021 and November 11, 2021 and communicated with the respondent.
They are said to have convinced the complainant that they deal in gold business and were in a position to sell him 5kgs of gold at Sh35 million knowing it was untrue.
“The complainant made a deposit of the said amount through an advocate namely Adhiambo Okech and Ass Advocates at Credit Bank Westlands," court heard.
Responding to the situation, detectives managed to arrest five people — four Kenyans and one Cameroonian.
The assorted metallic bars intended to be passed as gold were recovered and kept at the DCI Headquarters exhibit store.
“There is a need to ascertain the nature of stones and metals collected, which will necessitate their submission to geologist," Talai argued.
He added that there is an informant well-known to the suspects who fears for his life and is willing to give more information regarding the offence but needs to be assured the accused are held by DCI officers as he aids in the investigations.
The officer said that there are two suspects at large and the DCI fears that if the suspects are released, they may tip them off and scuttle the probe.
The court was informed that the Cameroonian's immigration status in Kenya is yet to be established, which makes him a flight risk.
The officer added that what was passed as gold was alleged to have originated from Cameroon, which implies that he might be the mastermind behind business dealings .
The investigation officer said all the suspects claim to be employees of Ekwuewe Freight Company, which the detectives need to gather more information on its registration, operations and dealings.
The respondents, according to the prosecution, have indicated that they would aid in arresting the mastermind of the entire scam and make more recoveries.
The police also sought to obtain statements from several other witnesses.