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Car wash fraudsters charged with duping businessman of Sh510,000


Four men who allegedly duped a businessman that they were in position to rent him a car wash space in South C, Nairobi have been charged with obtaining Sh510,000 from him by false pretences.

Philip Maina Kinyanjui, Jackson Kiio Mutua, Joseph Wairua and Caleb Kilela Kalinga are accused of obtaining the cash from Ibrahim Mohamed Abdi between September 1-3 of last year in a car wash along KLB road with intent to defraud by falsely pretending they were in a position to lease the said car wash.

SENT MONEY

On the said dates, Abdi had met a group of 34 youths who were operating the car wash and they agreed to sell him the space. He sent each of them Sh15,000 via M-Pesa.

They later failed to vacate but refused to leave after he came with a metallic water tank to take over the business.

The accused persons denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Esther Boke of the Kibera Law Courts.

GRANTED BAIL

They claimed that the deal was to allow Abdi to become a member of the car wash. They also claim that the deal only fell through after the residents’ association warned them that the car wash cannot have a pressure pump because of noise.

Kinyanjui and Wairua said they had already started refunding the complainant of his money but that they are only able to pay Sh100 a day each because of the hard economic times.

The court granted the accused persons Sh200,000 bond each and an alternative cash bail of Sh20,000. The case will be mentioned on August 10, 2020.