At Kangoya village in Kiambu County, a family is growing weary of making endless visits to the State Department for Foreign Affairs in Nairobi, pleading for government intervention to secure the release of their son from jail in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Mr James Kariuki Thiong'o who is jailed in Dubai over electronic fraud by unknown person using his identity.
Photo credit: Pool
James Kariuki, now 40, left Kenya for Dubai in 2012, hopeful of building a better life.
For nearly seven years, he survived on casual jobs as a security guard but returned home in early 2019 after his dreams failed to materialise.
Back in Kenya, Kariuki struggled to settle as no job opportunities were available, and his life was equally difficult.
“He was frustrated that the dreams he had when he left Kenya for Dubai had not materialised. He had hoped to have a family, but that too failed. Some of his agemates had progressed in life, and it troubled him to be seen as a man who had lived abroad for years only to return home with nothing. He decided to go back to Dubai and try his luck again,” his father John Thiongo told Daily Nation in an interview.
On February 5, 2020, Kariuki made the bold move to return to Dubai.
But what was meant to be a second chance quickly turned into a nightmare that has now seen him spend nearly six years in jail.
According to his family, shortly after arriving in Dubai, Kariuki began searching for work when he came across a job poster.
“He told us that the person posing as a recruiter was a Nigerian national who asked him to leave his documents behind and promised to call him later for an interview. That call never came. Instead, the documents were later used by fraudsters to commit identity theft and defraud unsuspecting people in Dubai,” Mr Thiongo said at his rural home.
On August 13, 2020, Kariuki was arrested and accused of electronic fraud amounting to AED 1.18 million (about Sh41.7 million at current exchange rates).
The portrait of James Kariuki who is languishing in a Dubai jail.
Photo credit: Pool
“He denied any involvement and explained what had happened—that he was simply looking for a job when he encountered the fake recruiter. Unknown to him, his documents were used in the fraud,” Mr Thiongo said, citing court proceedings shared by advocate Jumah Maleh, who is offering free legal services to Kariuki in the UAE.
Kariuki was sentenced by a UAE court in Sharjah to one year in jail followed by immediate deportation. But just when he was hopeful of returning home, fresh trouble struck.
While still serving his term, investigators linked him to another fraud involving AED 2 million (about Sh70.1 million).
The scheme involved creating fake email addresses resembling those of established financial institutions. Customers were tricked into clicking links, allowing fraudsters to empty their accounts.
The portrait of James Kariuki who is languishing in a Dubai jail.
Photo credit: Pool
Kariuki told the court he could not have been involved since he was already in jail when the crime occurred.
Prosecutors, however, argued that he was indirectly linked to the scam and was working with a network of fraudsters even while behind bars.
His family insists he is innocent and merely a victim of identity theft. Prosecutors, on the other hand, maintain that Kariuki is a fraudster who colluded with criminals both inside and outside prison.
