
A Benin national suspected to behind a Sh 700 million gold scam has been produced before a Nairobi court.
Salem Frejus Hector Joyau Ahossi was Produced before Chief Magistrate Lukas Onyina where police sought orders to detain him for 14 days to conclude investigations.
The suspect is alleged to be involved with an international fraud syndicate where foreign nationals have lost their money after being lured into investment opportunities.
Investigating officer Seargent Charles Odhiambo told the court that Ahossi was arrested, who resides in Canada was arrested in Kenya on 25th October 2024.
This is after the matter was reported to Capitol Hill Police Station on the 27th September, 2024 by one Maxime Harouna Sawadogo in the company of Atinho Dassoundo both of whom reside in Canada.
According to the complainant, he was persuaded by the respondent and introduced into a Gold Sale and Purchase transaction on the 17th day of August, 2022 back in Canada where they both attend the same church.
“At that time, the complainant had known the respondent for a period of about three months out of their interactions in the chapel,” Seargent states in his affidavit.
African partners
It is alleged that Ahossi informed the complainant that he had business partners in Africa who had a lot of gold available for sale and he had at the same time identified buyers of the said gold who were Belgian nationals and so the only thing that was missing was an investment in the processing of the gold in preparation for its sale.
The gold owners were offering the consignment for sale at a price of USD 35,000 per kilo and further that once the sale was done and profits realized, he was willing to share the profit with the investor on a 50/50 basis.
To sweeten the deal, it is alleged that Ahossi later sent the complainant the profit estimate assuming they had invested in processing 100 Kgs of gold which statistics showed that they would realize profit of 2,061,512.5 Euros.
The court heard that the respondent further told the complainant that his African partners were capable of transacting 8,000 Kgs of gold in a period of six months which translated into a potential profits margin of over 270,000,000 Canadian dollars.
“The complainant, having developed an interest in the business, took an initiative of visiting to familiarize himself with the respondent’s residence in Canada and the respondent did the same before they went together to their pastor whom they briefed about the business opportunity they intended to pursue,” the investigating officer added.
According to the affidavit by the investigating officer, Ahossi and the complainant later had a meeting at the church compound where he made a proposal that they should begin by processing a consignment of 200 Kgs if he could raise the money stating that it was by God’s Grace that they had met and that within a short period of time he would rise a lot financially.
The court heard that on the 31st August, 2022, the complainant issued his company cheque (Royal Bank of Canada) for an amount of USD 631,435 in the names of Salem Frejus Hector Ahossi (the respondent)
“By this time, the respondent had now disclosed that the Gold consignment would come from Accra, Ghana where the seller was based and that the complainant was a passive partner in the first and second transactions of 200 Kgs and 500 Kgs meaning, he would not accompany him to Ghana for the transaction but would only provide the funds.
After the money was sent, Ahossi was not able to access the funds sent by the complainant from the bank since after analysis, the bank found the amounts transferred inconsistent with the limits the respondent transacted normally since the account was opened.
According to the investigator, the respondent, in a change of tact, convinced the complainant that the money should be sent directly to the seller in Ghana and provided him with an account held at Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited in the names of Adjafash Company Limited who was said to be the agent.
On the 1st September, 2022, the complainant successfully transferred an amount of USD 489,971.22 but curiously the respondent instructed him to indicate the reasons for this transfer as being for the “Purchase of Farm Produce” allegedly to avoid complications.
The court heard that later, Ahossi acknowledged receipt of the amounts sent via Whatsapp and sent the complainant photos of himself in a flight headed to Ghana where upon landing, he also provided videos of him and the consignment.
“This was the beginning of the journey of a gold transaction that has lasted over two years of the respondent and his associates based in Ghana giving excuses to the complainant who has over that period spent approximately USD 5,478,417.70 (apprx. Sh 706,332,303.81) in an attempt to process for sale a 490 Kgs gold consignment to be sold in Belgium.
The officer noted that during this period, some of the payments have been done through bank transfers, on instructions of the respondent, to his agents and associates while at other times, he instructed the complainant to send the money through the informal Hawala System.
The gold smuggler story
In the end, the respondent and his agents allegedly informed the complainant that there was a policy change in Ghana banning any Gold from being exported out of the country unless the gold is being sold to government and further it was alleged that the purported seller is a gold smuggler who smuggles gold into Ghana from Mali.
The suspect added that the gold owner was finally arrested and as result of the smuggling, he was not able to provide a Certificate of Origin of the gold consignment, a critical document required in the processing of the shipping papers.
“It was finally suggested to him that the gold should be moved to Dubai where it would be sold without the papers as the only option which he consented to but upon travelling to Dubai where he was joined by the respondent who travelled from Canada, no Gold consignment was ever shown to him and he was forced to travel back home.”
The complainant was then informed that the gold consignment had been taken to Kenya to save it from the Dubai Customs and that it would now be shipped from Kenya to Belgium forcing him to finally travel to Kenya where he again met the respondent.
The court heard that on arrival, he met another team of Kenyan agents introduced to him by the respondent who took him an office in undisclosed posh location within Nairobi and he was later shown an alleged gold consignment in two boxes.
However, before inspecting the gold, he was asked to pay further amounts failure to which he ran the risk of the consignment being sold to another buyer.
This is when the he complainant decided to seek legal counsel from a Kenyan law firm in order to formalize the documentation before suspecting in the process that he had been scammed hence reporting the matter to the police for further investigations.
“Preliminary investigations into the allegations show that the respondent might be part of an International Fraud syndicate operating in several African countries with the investigators following up on early investigative leads showing that apart from the current complainant, other unsuspecting foreign gold buyers are in the country on instructions of the the respondent and his associates having paid some money to them through a Kenyan law firm.
Seargent Odhiambo told the court that he needed the 14 days to conclude investigations including recording statements from the complainant and other witnesses.
The officer also said he needs tome to subject the suspects two mobile phones to forensic analysis.
The court also heard that the suspect, who was arrested in Nairobi’s Kilimani area is a flight risk since he is a Benin national and a Canadian resident with no fixed abode in Kenya.
The magistrate will deliver the ruling on 29th October 2024.