Two Women Group Officials Detained for Allegedly Conning Members Sh300 Million

Police in Nairobi are detaining two officials of a women’s group in connection with a Sh300 million fraud.

On Friday, Milimani senior principal magistrate Bernard Ochoi allowed police to hold Mary Ndunge Mutuku and Mary Wanjiku Ndung’u of Mitumba Women Self-Help Group in order to grill them and record statements from witnesses.

The two are accused of obtaining millions of shillings from unsuspecting victims under a false pretense of selling them houses at an estate they developed near Wilson Airport in Lang’ata, Nairobi.

Police are seeking to unravel the true identity of Ndunge, who is said to have registered SIM cards and MPesa accounts using identity cards belonging to other people. Ndunge’s current MPesa account is reportedly registered using an identity card for one Victoria Mwongeli Mulu, the court heard.

Chief Inspector Eunice Njue, the investigating officer, told the court that she and her team want to travel out of Nairobi to interrogate and also recover documents from the suspects’ houses.

“I have to peruse hundreds of bank statements from 20 accounts being operated by Mitumba Women Self-Help Group and thousands of MPesa transactions,” she said.

Prosecutor James Gachoka said police have managed to seize voluminous documents from the house of Ndunge at Ngara (Nairobi) and Muua Hills in Machakos County.

“Police need to conduct an identification parade for the complainants to identify the suspects before charges are preferred,” said Gachoka.

The case will be mentioned on December 20th for further directions.