Wetangula speaks on fake gold scandal

Ford Kenya party leader Moses Wetangula has come out to speak on the fake gold saga that police have been investigating for the past few weeks.

Wetang’ula who spoke when he met Ford Kenya party officials termed the gold saga a ‘non-issue’.

“I am here for my party meeting. I am not aware of what you are talking about, it is a non-issue to me and I don't want to engage in it,” said Wetang’ula.

“From here, I’m going to condole the family of Oduyo Oprong, I’ll be in a committee meeting at the Senate and then at the plenary in the afternoon,” he said.

Asked on whether he knows anything about the gold scam, the Bungoma senator repeated the same response, it is a non-issue.

Reports had earlier indicated that Mr Wetangula was supposed to shed some light on the gold scam.

Sleuths from the DCI are said to be probing the authenticity of a leaked phone conversation alleged to be between Wetangula and a representative of the Dubai royal family over the fake gold scandal.

Opposition chief Raila Odinga last week opened up on the scandal, saying he was the whistle-blower in the scandal.

Speaking for the first time since his name was dropped in a video clip that went viral, Raila absolved Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i - describing him as a victim of witch-hunt.

“I am the one who discovered that some people were using senior government officials’ names to con the Asian businessmen,” he said.

“I told the businessmen that whoever they were told would clear their gold was not Matiang’i after I was handed over a phone after one of them said he Matiang’i was on the line. I clearly identified the voice on the other end as that of a different person altogether,” said Raila.

Raila also revealed how the fake Matiang’i was to clear the gold which was to leave the country through Wajir airport.

Early this month, Police detained 15 suspects in an investigation into a fake gold syndicate that had defrauded dozens of unsuspecting foreigners in Nairobi.

The operation was triggered by a complaint by members of Dubai royal family said to have been defrauded close to Sh400 million by the fraudsters.