More questions as license of firm implicated in Sh720m jobs fraud revoked
Victims of the Vintmark Travel Agency job scam gather at Jevanjee Gardens in Nairobi on September 25, 2024.
The National Employment Authority (NEA) has revoked the license of Nairobi-based Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd following a public outcry over accusations it conned job seekers Sh720 million.
Victims who include Kenyans and foreigners say they each paid about Sh150, 000 to the company that promised jobs in Canada, United Kingdom and Germany that never materialised.
The revocation follows a Nation’s expose on Tuesday on the activities of Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd, which is owned by Mr Ceaser Wagicheru Kingori, according to details from the Registrar of Companies.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has recorded complaints from scores of victims who allege applications for travel and work documents were falsified that saw several of applicants issued with visa bans and disqualifications.
According to a CR12 from the Registrar of Companies, Kingori, who owns 1666 ordinary shares, is listed as a shareholder and a director of Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd.
Other directors listed are Catherine Wairimu Mugo and Caroline Wanja Muriithi with 1668 and 1666 shares, respectively.
Ms Wairimu, Ms Wanja Muriithi and another woman identified as Grace Wamuhu Wanjohi also own Vintwood Travel Agency in which both are listed as directors and Ms Wamuhu as the company secretary.
Last week on Saturday, NEA Director General Edith Okoki had told Nation that the agency had written to the directors of Vintmark Travel Agency in the same week following many complaints from job seekers.
However, Nation has flagged inconsistencies in Ms Okoki’s statement after obtaining a letter that NEA wrote to Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd on August 12, 2024, and not a week ago as stated by Ms Okoki.
''The authority issued your company with the registration certificate No. FL001192 with a validity period from February 14, 2024 to February 13, 2025. It has come to our notice that your company has been collecting money from job seekers to facilitate them to secure employment abroad. Our office has never processed any demand letter from your office for the purported jobs in United Kingdom , Canada and other countries.
“Your company has failed to comply with the Labour Institutions Act, 2007 (revised) ….kindly furnish us with the following. List of job seekers registered by your company indicating the date of application, positions applied, placements and amount paid. Demand letters/job orders obtained from various countries for the purported jobs duly authenticated by the Embassy of Kenya in the countries of destination and any refunds made to the job seekers. We therefore request you to give your response within seven days from the date of this letter, failure to which the office will apply Section 56(7) of the Labour Institutions Act, 2007 to cancel the license,” the letter by Ms Okoki reads in part.
Yesterday, Ms Okoki could not explain the discrepancies in her earlier interview with Nation indicating that they wrote to Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd last week yet the letter in our possession is dated August 12, and why the agency allowed Vintmark to continue operating despite the complaints.
Also, Ms Okoki declined to comment on the curious development that NEA had cancelled the license of Vintmark September 20 - four days prior to the expose published by Nation.
''Reference is made to our letter … dated August 12 , 2024 concerning recruitment malpractice by your agency. The authority requested you to submit your response within seven days on the issues raised, which you have failed to and/ignored to respond to. “Consequently, and in compliance with the salient statutory provisions, you are hereby notified that we have cancelled your license No. Fl001192,’’ reads the letter from Ms Okoki.
Still operational
But despite the deregistration, Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd is still open and continues to advertise job openings through Tiktok.
On Wednesday, they held Tiktok Live sessions, paraded testimonials and went ahead to advertise their subsidiaries Vintmark Safaris and Vintmark Education.
''The enforcement to have them close down their premises lies with the police, not the National Employment Authority. On discrepancies on when we wrote the letter to Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd demanding answers from them after many complaints and when we informed them that we have deregistered them, please come to our office for further details,’’ Ms Okoki said and disconnected.
Scores of people claiming to have been scammed by Vintmark Travel Agency Ltd have continued to come forward following the Nation's expose on Tuesday. On Wednesday, some of the victims invaded their offices at Kenindia Building seeking a refund.
They were however denied access by hired bouncers placed at their offices.
