Kevin Otieno Onyango also known as Sonko was today arraigned before Senior Principal Magistrate Ben Mark and charged with several counts of forgery and making a document without authority.
In the charge sheet presented before court, it is alleged that at unknown places within the country Kevin Otieno Onyango unlawfully made a mineral dealer licence purporting to be genuine document from ministry of mining.
He is also alleged to have authored a document a licence to unlawfully defraud several clearing and forwarding company’s purporting to be a genuine document from the Ministry.
The accused pleaded not guilty and through his lawyers requested to be freed on a lenient bond, where the court released him on a bond of Sh 300,000 with surety of same amount or a cash bail of Sh 200,000 Kenya shillings plus two contact persons and a subject of court verification.
The alleged gold dealer who lives a flashy lifestyle and operates Bunda Investment Company that specialises in renting VVIP high end cars, choppers and even private jets as well as selling jewelleries, was arrested by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) hawkeyed detectives after a complaint was reported over his intentions to defraud.
He was arrested at his offices on 6th floor of the China Wu Yi Plaza in Kilimani, Nairobi County by officers from the DCI’s Operation Support Unit (OSU).
The Court was informed that the accused together with others who will be charged were being probed over links with the key suspects in a fraud case where Chinese national is alleged to have lost Sh 151 million.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Chinese businessman paid the amount for containers of Tantalum minerals which was reportedly from Congo but was intercepted in Mombasa and found to be soil instead of the said minerals.
The ‘minerals’ had already been paid for in hundreds of millions with the new owners unaware it was a scam, according to the ongoing investigations.
The investigation report indicated that the incident is linked to fake gold scammers operating in Nairobi’s Kilimani area using Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
About ten suspects were arrested from Sonko’s office but all, except Sonko, were released on Saturday and they will appear before court on Tuesday 27th to plead to charges.
The fraudstars linked to Sonko are suspected to have shifted operations to Mombasa and allegedly colluding with officials of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The DCI had launched investigations and intercepted the consignment at the Mombasa container terminal (MCT).