A car dealer who is notorious in defrauding his clients was arrested over claims he stole a business rival’s Sh33 million Range Rover in a deal gone bad.
Robert Bundi Mugaa was arrested on Sunday after snatching the Range Rover from another dealer in an attempt to settle a pending debt.
He was presented before a Kibera Court on Monday where magistrate Samson Temu allowed police to hold him for 14 days to complete investigations into his activities.
According to the miscellaneous application filed in court, police intend to charge Mugaa with the offences of theft and obtaining money by false pretence.
A complainant told police Mugaa had expressed interest in the Range Rover, which was initially being offered at Sh34 million.
The complainant identified as Mohamed Rashid told police he referred him to his sales manager on April 10 at Alvis Motors along Ngong Road, where he requested to be allowed to drive the car to show the client.
But the salesperson who suspected the dealer was up to some bad mission offered to accompany him to the said site where the buyer was waiting along Dennis Pritt Road.
After two attempts to locate the said interested buyer did not bear fruits.
Come Friday, the suspect again said there was an interested buyer before they drove the luxury car to a restaurant along State House Road.
There, according to the complaint, the suspect managed to sneak out with the car and delivered it to Westlands where an apparent client who had paid him Sh21 million was waiting.
The client had pressured Mugaa to deliver the car or refund his money.
The Westlands-based businessman gave police evidence of the Sh21 million payment which included Sh11.5 million sent to his account and a luxury Toyota car which was traded in at Sh9.5 million.
He had promised to deliver the car by April 8, but called the trader after sending him pictures of the car saying he was in Mombasa, clearing with customs and requested two more days.
Although Mugaa’s Silverstar Motor Ltd is registered, police say they did not find any evidence of a physical car yard.
According to police, as the salesperson and Mugaa had a chat and ordered food at the joint, the suspect, according to police, excused himself while on phone and vanished.
The sales agent realised the car was missing from where they had parked it and rushed to Kilimani police station, where a report was made.
Police later traced the suspect to Runda and the car to a parking yard in Westlands where it was picked up to the Kilimani police station pending probe.
Kilimani police commander Patricia Yegon said they are investigating the saga.
She added they want to know if there are more complaints of a similar nature.
This is after three more complainants emerged to make claims against the suspect.
Cases of fraud in car deals have been on the rise amid police efforts to solve them.
Some suspects have since been arrested and arraigned.
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