• The accused person was arraigned on Tuesday in Kibera law courts and denied the charges.
• Investigators indicated the Kikuyu man usually went by a Kamba name because he thought it enhanced his credibility.
Some people go to great lengths—even changing their name and tribe—to pull off an alleged fraud.
Especially when Sh5.24 million nonexistent land in Mavoko is involved.
John Muriithi Njogu, alias Ndambuki Kavoi, was arraigned on Tuesday in the Kibera law courts where he was unmasked by a DCI investigator.
The man who went by a Kamba name, Ndambuki Kavoi, admitted after hours of questioning by DCI that he was really a Kikuyu, the investigator said. But he went by the Kamba name in all his dealings because he thought it helped him.
Njogu denied charges including fraud and forgery before Kibera chief magistrate Ann Mwangi.
He is accused of defrauding Monicah Wambui Kinuthia by falsely pretending he was in a position to sell land at Mavoko Town block 3/2066, knowing it was false.
He even showed her 'the' land he said was for sale.
According to the charge sheet, the accused committed the offence on multiple dates between July 8, 2011, and August 30, 2011, in Nairobi city, with intent to defraud and obtain Sh5,240,000 from Wambui.
Muriithi faces other counts of making a document without authority, namely the Kamba identity card in the name of Ndambuki Kavoi. He also uttered false identity information, including at a lawyer's office in Westlands.
He is said to have forged the ID card in that name, purporting it to be a genuine card issued by the Registrar of Persons.
DCI detective Jane Kinyua testified the complainant lost the cash after she was made to believe the business was genuine. She reported the matter to police.
“I was in the office and I was visited by the complainant who informed me she had been defrauded.
"I started investigations and when I met the accused person, he lied to me that he was a Kamba man. Upon interrogating him further, he admitted that he was a Kikuyu man,” the detective told the court.
Kinyua said the accused told him the ID card was in an advocate's office and they went together to pick it.
The investigator took it for forensic examination "where we found out that it was a fake one," Kinyua said.
She told the court the accused person told her some people had worked with him to sell non-existent parcel of land.
The court heard the accused person then introduced the complainant to another person who purported to be the owner of the land.
“Thereafter, the complainant met the land seller of ID number 2262609 of the title deed of block B 3/2066-Mavoko,” the court heard.
A search of the land was done, a report sent to the advocate (name withheld). The complainant commenced the transactions done through the advocate.
The advocate, the court heard, received cash through a certain bank manager which was sent in tranches.
The case will proceed in February.
(Edited by V. Graham)