A woman who claims to be Raila Amollo Odinga’s personal doctor has been charged with fraudulently obtaining over KES 25 million from a foreigner under the pretence of having a KEMSA tender.
The lady who appeared before Milimani Law Courts Chief Magistrate Susan Shitubi was identified as Faith Mwikali Ndiwa.
She appeared before the Magistrate on Monday, May 27 for plea taking and denied eight charges of forgery and obtaining the KES 25 million from a Nigerian national, Jude Olabayo Veracruz, by pretending that she had won a tender from KEMSA for the supply of insecticidal nets.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) informed the court that Mwikali used her two companies, Ashley Dylan Limited and Faizel Limited, to secure tender number IFT NO GF ATM MAL NFM-19/20-OIT-004 to supply KEMSA with Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs), which she used to deceive the foreigner into investing in the said tender.
The court heard that the woman allegedly used her two companies to deceive Veracruz, convincing him that he would earn a profit after paying the KES 25 million to complete his part of the bargain.
She is accused of obtaining the said money on various dates between June and December 2022 in Nairobi County.
Mwikali also faced several other counts of making false documents. On March 7, 2022, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya with the intent to defraud, she allegedly forged a framework contract number IFT NO GF ATM MAL NFM-19/20-OIT-004 between KEMSA and Ashley Dylan Limited for the supply of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets, purporting it to be a genuine agreement issued by the medical supplies authority.
She was further charged with presenting the said contract between her company and KEMSA to the foreign investor Veracruz, purporting it to be a genuine agreement for the supply of insecticidal nets.
The businesswoman also denied another charge of forging an amendment to the agreement of the framework contract between her company and KEMSA.
In June 2022, she was accused of fraudulently presenting the said amendment agreement to Veracruz, pretending it to be a genuine agreement.
After denying the eight counts of forgery, uttering false documents, and obtaining money through pretences, the prosecution opposed the release of Mwikali on bond, saying the police needed to file an affidavit articulating reasons to deny the accused bond.
Mwikali’s defence lawyers applied to have the accused freed on bond, arguing that it was her constitutional right and that she was not a flight risk.
“Your honour, I plead with this court to release the accused on bond since it is her right,” the lawyer prayed.
State prosecutor Naomi Wanjiru opposed the application by the defence to free the accused on bond, stating that some issues need to be presented before the court through an affidavit by the investigating officer, Eunice Njue.
“Your honour, I oppose the release of the accused on a bond to give the investigating officer time to file an affidavit opposing the same,” Naomi said.
In her ruling, the magistrate allowed the plea by the prosecution to detain the accused until Tuesday, May 28, 2024, to allow the investigating officer to file a formal affidavit opposing her release on bond.
“I have considered the prayers by the prosecution to hold the accused for the investigating officer to have time to file an affidavit before the court,” the magistrate ruled.
Shitubi directed that the accused person be detained in Langata Prison until today Tuesday when she will be presented in court for a bail hearing.
Meanwhile, by 7:30 pm Tuesday night it was unclear whether the suspect had appeared in court for the determination of her bail application.
Additional reporting however indicated that Faith Mwikali Ndiwa is a super-con who had on another occasion invoked the name of the First Lady to defraud unsuspecting Kenyans.
According to detectives, Faith Mwikali Ndiwa’s arrest stemmed from an incident in May 2022 when she walked into the Guarantee Trust Bank and requested to speak with the CEO.
The CEO who is the complainant in the matter says the suspect claimed to have some Ksh.70million in her account, for which she needed financial advice.
“The complainant offered professional financial advice and advised her to make her own decision,” court papers seen by Citizen.Digital explain.
The suspect would return days later with a different request for money, claiming that she needed it to pay off her mother’s medical bills.
When the complainant was asked about the Ksh.70 million she claimed to have in her account, she stated that she had purchased a house in Karen.
“The complainant was convinced and advised her to visit the bank where she was granted a loan of eight million Kenya Shillings,” the court papers read.
A month later, she called the complainant again, this time claiming to be representing Raila Odinga, who she claimed had recently won a Ksh.19 million tender to supply Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA).
“She presented the said tender documents, contract and bill of lading documents to the Complainant under Hon. Raila Odinga to complete the tender,” detectives familiar with the matter say.
According to the investigations, the suspect told the complainant that Raila Odinga’s son-in-law had already paid Ksh.8 million, but the balance was needed to clear the nets, which she claimed were already on a timer at the Mombasa port.
She promised the complainant a share of the cut once KEMSA paid for the tender.
She also convinced the complainant that the payment would be made within one month, and as a result, the complainant deposited the funds into the suspect’s bank accounts.
Detectives discovered that one of the accounts given to the complainant belonged to a motor vehicle yard called Al Husinaim Motors Limited, where the suspect obtained a new Range Rover motor vehicle registration number, KDM 311N.
The complainant told detectives that the suspect switched off her phone immediately after the transaction was completed, forcing him to report the incident.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the KEMSA tender did not exist.
It has also come to light that the suspect was involved in a similar case in which she presented herself before the DCI Nairobi area with a job card indicating that she worked as a physician for the First Lady.
When detectives checked the job card, they discovered it was fake.
She was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts on Monday where she took plea for seven criminal charges.
She was then remanded at the Langata Women’s Prison pending her bail application hearing.
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