City shopkeeper cons two women of Sh9 million

A city shopkeeper accused of defrauding two businesswomen of Sh9 million has been released on a Sh4.5 million bond. Phelix Mbeya Oduru allegedly defrauded Damaris Atambo and Jackeline Nzula of Sh9,050,000 on diverse dates between June 26 and March 18 in Westlands, Nairobi.

“You, together with others not before the court, pretended that you were in a position to sell her a herbicide product, namely Pramitol 25 E, a fact you knew to be false,” reads the charge sheet.

Nzula and Atambo were reportedly informed by a friend of a business opportunity to supply the herbicide to a company named Tradall Holdings Kenya Limited. On June 12, the business women, together with their friend, met at Visa Place in Umoja where they discussed the business deal and agreed to venture into it.

According to court documents, after supplying the goods, the person who introduced them went behind their back and withdrew the supplies from the company with the intention of selling them to a different client and this prompted the procurement officer to alert the two complainants.

The two picked up the goods from their friend and took them back to the company but they were not accepted. They were left looking for a different client and were connected to a person alleged to be in the UK who asked for more money in order to get them a buyer’s order.

Then the cat and mouse games began and the two women were taken in circles while being asked to inject more money and that’s when they learned that they were dealing with a syndicate. They reported the matter to the police and Oduru was arrested. Makadara Principal Magistrate Eva Kanyiri set the case to be mentioned on August 11.