Recruitment Agency Boss Jepchirchir Blames Woes on Politicians, Business Rivals

First Choice Recruitment and Consultancy director Judy Jepchirchir has blamed her woes on politics and business rivalry.

The businesswoman who is alleged to have scammed hundreds of jobseekers in 2022 says politicians from Rift Valley are to blame for the ongoing investigations into her business.

Judy is set to appear before the Senate Labour and Social Welfare Committee later today after ignoring three summonses.

She has also recorded statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Judy says she has helped Kenyans secure jobs in Qatar, Dubai, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada but things went south last year when they received demand letters from two firms in Qatar for short term jobs.

She previously informed the senate committee that her agency managed to register 2,011 candidates for the Fifa World Cup jobs. They managed to deploy 827 individuals while 189 were deployed to European Security Services and 303 were sent to Al Saraiya Security Services with 51 deployed to optimize security.

226 applicants were sent to Living Adventure to work in hotels as room attendants, linen attendants, receptionists, floor supervisors, store supervisors and bellmen. 58 others were deployed to Aamal cleaners.

Read: DCI Recommends Prosecution of “Untouchable” Judy Jepchirchir Over Overseas Jobs Scam

“I would like to inform this Senate committee that out of the 827 candidates that we deployed for the Fifa World Cup in Qatar, 718 of them are already back in the country after the completion of their contracts while 109 are still in Qatar under long term two years’ contract,” explained Judy.

The Julius Murgor-led committee (West Pokot Senator) heard that of the 1,184 unsuccessful candidates, 396 have received refunds while 358 have since transferred to two-year program to Qatar and other destinations while 328 others are waiting for their due date to collect their refund with only 102 candidates undecided on their next step.

“The reasons for unsuccessful applications were high influx of people to Qatar from different parts of the world causing delays in Visa processing while some unsuccessful candidates failed the medical test required by the employers, while others did not have their passports ready for travel,” she said.

Judy who has been rubbing shoulders with those in power including President William Ruto explained that the negative publicity started in September 2022 after they could not deploy all the applicants.

“I blame the misinformation on certain politicians and and business rivals not happy with what we are doing. I don’t know why they are fighting me. Politicians have varied interests and so when their interests are not met, you become an enemy,” she said.

Without naming names, Judy said those fighting her believe she wants to venture into politics, a claim she dispelled.

“I cannot tell the people who are fighting me but I know they are doing so because they think I want to go into politics which is not the case. We are trying to find out who is behind this,” she continued.

Judy who many have described as “untouchable” said she should be charged if found culpable.

“Let the investigative agencies do their work. If they find me guilty then I should be charged.”

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