Lawyer seeks to stop prosecution over online money investment scam

Jane Nyaboke Njagi. [Photo: WILLIS AWANDU/STANDARD]

An advocate has gone to court to try to stop her prosecution over an online investment scam.

Jane Nyaboke wants to stop the Director of Public Prosecutions and the police from charging her in relation to the scandal.

She said she was also a victim after she allegedly lost over Sh800,000 to the fraudsters.

The lawyer said a friend, a Steve Mwendwa, approached her in August and told her about the lucrative online money business which could give her good returns within a short time.

“I had not heard of such a business and had no idea of how it worked. He informed me that he started off with an initial investment of Sh900,000 and had already made Sh48 million within a few months,” said Nyaboke.

She claimed Mwendwa told her that prominent people, including MPs, had invested in the online money business and were reaping millions of shillings in returns.

She said when she inquired about the location of the company, Mwendwa took her to Norwich House along Moi Avenue, where she met Emmanuel Gatobu, who introduced himself as the CEO of the online money company called One Coin One Life Company.

She claimed that Gatobu informed her that if she invested Sh777,000, she would receive a return of Sh2.4 million by October 8.

“He also informed me that the online money company would go public in October and that I would be considered one of the members and be entitled to 10 per cent of investment amount from anyone I introduce,” she said.

Based on that assurance, Nyaboke said she was convinced after which she deposited Sh777,000 in the company’s account and another Sh90,000, which Mwendwa and Gatobu said was for opening an account.

A week later, she got a call from Mwendwa that he had invested another Sh2.2 million in the account they opened for her. When she asked where the money came from, Mwendwa told her that he had borrowed it from his wife.

According to the lawyer, that marked the beginning of her troubles after Mwendwa started demanding that she refund the Sh2.2 million.

“They even refused to tell me the details of the account they said they had opened for me. He just started blackmailing me that he would expose me and have me arrested if I did not repay Sh2.2 million. I did not authorise or was aware of the transaction,” said Nyaboke.

Pay debt

To coerce her into paying, she claimed Mwendwa reported her to Parliament Police Station alleging that she had refused to pay his debt.

She argued that Mwendwa was using some of his influential relatives to intimidate and force her to pay a debt she knew nothing about.

She accuses the police of refusing to listen to her side of the story and instead charging her with fraud.

She wants the court to stop the impending charges and order Mwendwa and Gatobu to refund the money she invested in the purported online money investment company.