Court detains Congolese man in Sh105m gold scam
Congolese Andre Tshikunga in court on January 14, 2021 when he was charged with defrauding a Ukranian national Kovalenko Hennadii Sh105million in a fake gold deal.
A Congolese man, who had gone underground for four years after defrauding a Ukranian national of Sh105 million in a fake gold deal, will continue cooling his heels in police cell until Monday when his fate will be determined.
Milimani Law Courts Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi directed that Andre Kongolo Tshikunga be held at Capitol Hill Police Station until January 17 when the court will determine whether to free him on bond.
The court was urged to deny the accused bond since he had been on the run since November 2018. He was arrested on January 6, 2022.
“The accused is a flight risk, he went underground after obtaining money from Ukranian national Kovalenko Hennadii,” state prosecutor James Gachoka told the court.
He said that Mr Tshikunga, who has other pending cases in court, might jump bail if he is released on bond.
But defence lawyer Stanley Kang’ahi said the accused had acquired Kenyan citizenship by naturalisation, having married Kenyan woman.
Mr Tshikunga denied that between January and November 2018 at Afrisolutions Company Limited in Kileleshwa, Nairobi, he obtained fraudulently US Dollars 1,059,000 (Sh105,900,000) from Mr Hennadii.
The court heard the accused claimed that could sell gold to Mr Hennadii. Mr Tshikunga was charged seven days after the Ukranian national flew to Kenya to identify him.
He was arrested on January 6, 2022 and detained on orders of the court on January 7, 2022.
