A Nairobi court has issued orders for a cameroonian national to be detained for five days to allow police to conclude investigations into a Sh 79.7 million gold scam case.
Francis Talla Ouafo alias Alain Captain will be remanded at Capitol Hill Police Station until Tuesday, 5th August 2025.
Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina ruled that the suspect poses a flight risk.
“In this case, I am convinced that the respondent poses a risk of flight and that application satisfies the requirements as set in law,” the magistrate said.
The magistrate granted the DCI five days instead of 14 days sought on grounds that the 14 days were too long.
Ouafo is suspected to have defrauded Canada’s KBox Solutions Director, Bruno Fettweis Sh 79,729,013.98 by pretending he could sell gold to him.
The journey to Kenya
According to an affidavit by DCI Operations Support Unit Sergeant Charles Odhiambo, the complainant, through his company entered into a gold sales and purchase agreement as the buyer with one Melissa Bebise Lukaya as the seller to buy 250 Kgs of gold at a price of USD 50,000 per Kilogram.
“Prior to this agreement, the complainant had travelled to Kenya from Canada on 6th of April, 2025 in the company of two Canadian Nationals namely Jean Yacoub and Hacob Yaacobian because the latter, Hacob Yaacobian, was to introduce him to the sellers agent in Kenya,” Sergeant Odhiambo said.
The investigator added that on arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the complainant and his team was received by the respondent using his car and another car after which he led them to their hotel where they spent the night.
The next morning, the respondent among others drove the complainant and his team to an office in Karen where he was shown a consignment of gold nuggets before being returned back to their hotel.
“On 8th day of April, 2025, the respondent again picked up the complainant and his team and drove them to an office located within Kitisuru where he was shown another alleged gold consignment in five wooden boxes, weighing 250 Kgs,” Sergeant Odhiambo said.
The court heard that at the said office location, he met the alleged seller one Melissa Bebisa Lukaya, said to be a Congolese national and together with her shipping Agent had a meeting where the business deal was discussed including the logistics of moving the gold consignment from Kenya to Dubai by use of a private jet.
He added that the said discussions culminated into the signing of the sales and purchase agreement dated 14th April 2025 before he was later issued with a Proforma Invoice from a Kenyan company EAI Logistics Limited that had the bank account details of where the logistical fees to cater for the insurance of the cargo and a private jet to ferry the same was to be paid.
The Money
It is alleged that on 10th May, 2025 an initial amount of USD 318, 400 (Apprx Sh 41,054,496) cleared into the said account belonging to a lawyer nominated by the seller to receive the payment and by this time the complainant had been instructed to proceed to Dubai and wait for the gold consignment.
However, after the receipt of the payment, no consignment was transported to Dubai with the seller’s agent informing the complainant that the seller, Lukaya, had just been arrested on the morning they were scheduled to arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after she was found in possession of undocumented diamonds.
The seller’s agent later demanded for more money from the complainant to allegedly bail out the seller from custody and pay for certain customs licenses that had now expired due to the delay.
Sergeant Odhiambo stated that on diverse dates between 16th June 2025 and 24th June 2025, the complainant paid a further USDT 300,000 into a Crypto Wallet provided to him by the seller’s agent but immediately after this, he was informed that the ICGLR certificate for the consignment had expired and need to be renewed.
The complainant was informed that the said renewal could only be done by first transporting the gold consignment back to DRC (Congo) where the seller, in the company of her agent, would renew the license before transporting the same back to Kenya and the complainant was required to pay further amounts to cater for their expenses.
“The complainant did not pay the said amounts as demanded and reported the matter to the police for investigations, leading to the arrest of the respondent,” the investigator added.
The officers told the court that releasing the respondent at this time could jeopardize investigations.
It was Sergeant Odhiambo’s application that they needed time to trace and record statements from the unsuspecting foreign investors that are currently dealing actively with the respondent and/or his agents.
Three mobile phones recovered from the respondent also need to be subjected to forensic analysis.
The officer added that they need help to identify all the locations where the victim was taken in the course of executing the crime.
In addition, they also need to ensure that Ouafo does not leave the jurisdiction of the court being that he is a foreign national.
