- The agency is said to have duped the former lawmaker that it would help secure jobs for his constituents in Saudi Arabia.
- Ropasil Agency is said to have received Sh441,850 as facilitation fee to process documents to have some 19 youth travel to the foreign country last year.
Image: File
Former Bomet Central MP Ronald Tonui has won a suit in which he is seeking a refund of more than Sh500,000 from a local recruitment agency that conned him.
The agency is said to have duped the former lawmaker that it would help secure jobs for his constituents in Saudi Arabia.
In the court documents, Tonui says Ropasil Agency solicited Sh441,850 as facilitation fee to process documents to have some 19 youth travel to the foreign country last year.
In her replying affidavit, however, the respondent states that the amount claimed was paid before the service of the claim and the transport and fare are not her responsibility.
“The claimant failed to present the necessary documents for successful applications towards jobs and essentially frustrated the process. The Respondent bore no responsibility towards obtaining personal documents for the claimant/applicants,” she said.
According to the former legislator, he further paid Sh60,000 as requested by Roseline Wanjiku who runs the agency as travel and subsistence allowance for the youth at the rate of Sh3,000 each.
“The respondent—Roseline Wanjiku T/A Ropasil Agency Limited— presented herself claiming she is a labour agent and therefore able to source for employment for some of the Bomet constituents and as a result she received Sh501,850,” read the supporting affidavit.
Tonui, a former member of the Labour Committee of the National Assembly, claims he met the respondent while in Mombasa for their parliamentary meeting.
The committee, he notes, was then investigating reports of mistreatment of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and had invited several agents.
“The said committee invited several recruitment agents to make their presentation on the alleged mistreatments at Whitesand's Hotel Mombasa and in their discussions she informed him that she had vacancies for cleaners, security guards and drivers in Saudi Arabia,” the document reads.
It adds, “She informed the claimant that Saudi Arabia has employment vacancies for the above workers urgently and that they should be able to travel to Saudi Arabia before Christmas of year 2021.”
The court heard that in WhatsApp chats and talks between the two, the respondent demanded for payments for facilitation of passport processing and mandatory medical tests.
The court has now ordered the respondent the pay back the full sum inclusive of interest at court rates from the date of filing the claim.
“By virtue of the above therefore though proof of payment has not been provided, it can be construed that the respondents owed the claimant the said amount,” read the judgment.