A gold scammer who was arrested on Saturday for allegedly obtaining Sh38 million from a foreign national in pretext that he will sell to him gold weighing 500 kilograms was Monday charged at a Milimani court in Nairobi.
Steve Okoth Odek alias David Bett was arraigned before Milimani magistrate Gilbert Shikwe where he denied two charges.
Odek was charged with the first count that on different dates between February 1 and 2 2024 within Nairobi County jointly with others not before court they conspired to steal the sum of USD265,200 which is equivalent to Sh38 188 800 from Asianic Limited.
The charge sheet added that they falsely pretended that they were in a position to sell 580 kilogarms of gold to the said firm a fact they knew to be false.
In count two, the accused was charged that on different dates between February 1 and August 2 ,2024 within Nairobi county jointly with others not before court they obtained a sum of USD265 200 which is approximately equivalent to Sh38 million from Asianic Limited by falsely pretending that they were in a position to sell 580 kilograms of gold to the said firm a fact they knew to be false.
According to police records he had entered into two separate gold purchase agreements with his accuser on February 6, 2024.
“The victim was to purchase 500 kilograms of Gold and on March 14, 2024 another 5080 kilogarms with each kilogram priced at USD 40 000,” said police
They added that they had established that the second contract was signed after the first deal failed where the accused had promised to deliver the gold only after securing certain conditions including the buyer`s responsibility for jet chartering, payment of taxes and insurance.
“Despite these schemes Odek once more failed to deliver the gold and in an attempt to keep the scam going he provided 20 kilograms of “gold bars” as collateral and the victim was not aware that he was being scammed and ended up paying the total amount in dollars,” police added.
The magistrate will make a ruling on Tuesday December 10 whether he will be released on bond or not.
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