Sh32m fraud case against two Italians to proceed

Italian nationals Daniele Lo Coco and Massimo Naviti when they appeared before Kilifi Law Courts. [File, Standard]

Two Italian nationals involved in a Sh32 million fraud case have faced a setback after a Kilifi magistrates' court rejected their request for the return of their passports. 

Daniele Lo Coco and Massimo Naviti appeared before Kilifi Chief Magistrate James Mwaniki for the case after failed attempt to stop the proceedings through higher courts. 

In 2024, they were each released on a Sh3 million bond with surety of a similar amount, and their passports confiscated after the prosecution argued they were a flight risk. 

On May 15, 2026, the Court of Appeal in Mombasa directed the case to proceed in the lower court, arising from an appeal filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The DPP, represented by prosecutor Joseph Mwangi Kamanu, appealed against a decision of the High Court in Malindi to suspend the criminal prosecution of the two Italians. 

The High Court had also directed the police to suspend any further investigations against the two accused persons until it determined the matter before it. 

Coco and Naviti allegedly committed the offences on diverse dates between August 30, 2018, and February 24, 2021, in the tourist resort town of Watamu in Kilifi County. 

Between August 30, 2018, and August 1, 2019, the two were charged; they obtained Sh17m from Rita Nappo by pretending that they were in a position to sublease her villa.

The said Villa No. 5A, according to court records, sits on plot number Kilifi Jimba 1544, measuring approximately 0.327 hectares.

Secondly, the accused allegedly, with intent to defraud, obtained Sh15 million from Girola Fiorenzo by pretending that they were in a position to sublease her villa number 4B.

The second villa sits on plot number Kilifi Jimba 1544, measuring approximately 0.327 hectares, a fact they knew to be false. 

The case was delayed due to the unavailability of an Italian interpreter, as the accused lawyer Tukero Ole Kina claimed that his clients understood neither Kiswahili nor English.

This forced the magistrate to adjourn the case until the afternoon when the translator Piero Canobbio arrived. 

The court set the defence hearing dates for July 9 and 10, 2026.