Lawyer for the Simoung Group of Companies (SMG) based in Lao has narrated to a Nairobi magistrate court how the company was defrauded of Sh300 million in US dollars in a quest to venture into gold business in Kenya.
Sounthorn Chanthavong who is the legal counsel of SMG told the court that his boss (referred as chairman) had been informed that he could venture into the business of gold trade in Kenya.
The lawyer said they were informed that there were rich people loaning money at a small interest rate.
Led by State Prosecutor Anderson Gikunda, Chanthavong who is also the vice-president of Joint Development Bank, one of SMG companies, said the SMG chairman, his assistant and two others travelled to Kenya in early 2019 to meet the owners of the mining companies.
After meeting the alleged businessmen in Kenya, the chairman, Ekaphanh Phapitsack invited Chanthavong to Nairobi to check a contract he had been given to sign in regard to the low interest loan.
“I came to Kenya under the instructions of the Chairman, the owner of SMG and the bank,” Chanthavong said.
The Chairman went back to Laos and left the lawyer and his colleagues in Kenya to finish the transactions.
On 30th June 2019, Chanthavong arrived in Nairobi and was picked up at the airport by a man identified as Mr. Kibet who was part of the people he was going to deal with.
The court heard that Kibet drove him to the company that allegedly traded in gold and after they saw the gold and confirmed it was 97% pure, Kibet told them that he knew people who could give them the money instead of going back to Laos to transact.
The witness said that his boss felt the loan was a fair deal since they only charged a Sh 1.5 percent interest.
The people willing to lend them the money, he said, could provide up to 400 million dollars. However, the Chairman said since it was a first deal they should go for a lower amount first. They decided to ask for US $100 million.
The lawyer added that they were taken to meet the loan bosses who introduced themselves as Rose Omamo, Jonathan and Benson Mutura. This is where the contract was to be signed.
When requested to identify the people who introduced themselves with the above name, he identified Jared Otieno as Jonathan, Philip Oroko as Benson Tololwa Mutura, Pauline Adhiambo as Rose Omamo and he defined another accused as the taller guy.
The court heard that there were two contracts. The first contract was for a USD 100 million loan in which they were told to pay USD 1 million as security since they did not have any security in Kenya.
Chanthavong testified that after going through the contract, they signed it and expected the USD 100 million would be sent to Lao. But it never was.
They tried to follow up but the lenders kept giving them excuses. At one point, the court heard, Rose Omamo who played the boss told SMG to give her a USD 2 million personal loan.
SMG agreed and drafted a contract to which was signed by both parties. In the meantime, they still waited for the USD 100 million from her. Irony.
The witness testified that they looked up a Kenyan lawyer on social media to assist them in drafting the second contract since they did not know the process of drafting one in Kenya.
As they waited for the money to be transferred, they went out to drink and party severally.
The SMG lawyer added that they were informed by the lenders that for them to do gold business in Kenya, they needed to register a company in Kenya.
They were also told to make Kibet a director of the company since they needed a local person who knows the country well.
They paid USD 5,000 to register the company under the name SMG Africa Gold Trading Limited.
After doing all they considered necessary, the lenders still did not send the money. The court was told that when SMG tried to follow it up, they were given excuses which eventually turned to threats.
Fearing for their lives, the lawyer and his colleagues decided to go back to Laos where their boss convinced them to come back to Kenya and follow up the matter. However, the lenders were nowhere to be found and could not be reached on phone.
This led them to report the matter to the police.
Prosecution presented its second out of 9 witnesses in a case where an Asian company allegedly defrauded Sh300 million in a fake gold transaction in Kenya in 2019.
Lawyer Sounthorn Chanthauong, testified before Chief Magistrate, Wendy Kagendo, that he acted for Simuong Group Company (SGC) based in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Asia) in the transaction involving businessman Jared Otieno, Dillon Kibet and 15 others.
Court heard that the accused persons displayed heavy steel boxes allegedly packed with genuine foreign currency trading as Nirone Safe Keeping Limited and falsely pretended to be carrying out a genuine foreign currency business.
He was testifying in a case in which businessman Jared Kiasa Otieno has been charged afresh with fraudulently obtaining Sh300 million in a fake gold scam.
Otieno alias Jonathan Tololwa was charged alongside Philip Nashon Ng’uru Aroko alias Benson Mutola, Ricky Thomas Ochieng alias Tom Okoth, Dillon Kibet and Paul-ine Adhiambo Odok alias Rose Adhiambo Omamo.
The charges stated that they conspired to defraud Simuong Group Company from Lao of Sh300 million by means of fraudulent tricks.
It is alleged that they displayed heavy steel boxes allegedly marked with genuine foreign currencies between February 8 and 28, 2019 in Nairobi County, an offence they jointly with others not before court.
The court heard that they claimed they owned a company office trading as Nirone Safe Keeping ltd, claiming that they were engaged in a genuine foreign currency business.
Otieno, Aroko and Odok were further accused that between February 7 and 28 in the year 2019, they obtained Sh300 million from Simuong Group company ltd of US $2 million as a loan for payment within a month.
They allegedly presented themselves as Jonathan Tololwa, Benson Mutola and Rose Adhiambo Omamo, with intent to defraud.
The three were also charged with obtaining Sh100 million from the same company with intent to defraud. The money was purported to be as security to offer a loan, a fact they knew to be false.
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