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Four charged with attempt to extort from Insurance boss


A Makadara court heard how four men attempted to defraud Metropolitan Canon Insurance Company CEO James Oyugi while purporting to be police officers investigating him for corrupt activities.

The four are Apollo Nyabola, Washington Wasonga, Daniel Oreng, and Moses Osore.

They are charged with conspiring to extort Mr. Oyugi by threatening to cause him to be arrested and charged with allegedly engaging in corrupt practices with the intent to defraud him.

The four are also charged accused of representing themselves as persons employed by the public service as employees of the national police service.

In the personating charge, they are accused of threatening to arrest Oyungi accusing him of running an insurance brokerage company that was purported to have been engaging in corruption practices.

The four are also accused of attempting to extort by threats.

They allegedly threatened to report Oyugi to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for running an insurance brokerage company while in employment and involved in corruption.

Nyabola visited Oyugi’s office while he was out of the country and left a note that he needed to see him.

A few days later, he returned and found Oyugi having returned. They met and Nyabola told him that he was under investigation by an officer based at Capitol Hill police station over graft activities.

Oyugi who testified during the hearing said he was told he could be given an opportunity to play along and avert his file from being handed over to EACC but he said he told off Nyabola who purported to have been sent by the police officer.

He reported the matter to the police and was told to arrange a meeting with them.

Oyugi organised a meeting at Ole Sereni Hotel where officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers from Makadara laid an ambush and arrested Nyabola, Oreng, and Wasonga just before a meeting where they were to discuss how much he was going to give.

Osore was arrested later during investigations.

Oyugi told principal magistrate Agnes Kamau that the suspects had proposed a Sh1 million bribe during phone calls with the possibility of negotiations but they had not negotiated when the DCI officers rounded them up.

The suspects are accused of committing the offences on diverse dates between August 20 and August 27 of 2018 and have denied the charges, and are out on bond.

The hearing of the case continues on May 25.