Assani Elolo Ronaldo was arrested at JKIA while allegedly preparing to travel to Uganda using a passport bearing the name Ronald Omondi Owuor, raising fresh questions over Kenya’s identity-document controls.
A Congolese national facing proceedings in a Sh10 billion gold scam case has landed in fresh legal trouble after prosecutors accused him of fraudulently obtaining and using a Kenyan passport under a different identity.
Assani Elolo Ronaldo was arraigned at the Kibera Law Courts on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, where he denied three charges linked to the alleged manufacture and use of an unauthorised travel document and the provision of false information to a public officer.
His arrest at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has added a new dimension to a case that was already attracting scrutiny over an alleged multibillion-shilling gold fraud.
Investigators allege that Elolo was travelling with a Kenyan passport bearing the name Ronald Omondi Owuor when immigration officers intercepted him on October 13 as he prepared to fly to Entebbe, Uganda.
The prosecution’s allegations raise questions about how a foreign national facing an ongoing criminal case allegedly came to possess a Kenyan passport registered under another name, and whether the procedures governing the issuance of travel documents were properly followed.
The charges are, however, allegations that remain to be tested in court.
Passport arrest opens a new legal front
Elolo faces charges of making a document without authority, uttering a false document and providing false information to a public officer.
The prosecution cited Sections 357(a), 353 and 129(a), read together with Section 36 of the Penal Code, in bringing the charges.
According to investigators, officers were dispatched to JKIA to take custody of the accused after receiving information about his arrest.
He was subsequently presented before the Kibera court, where he pleaded not guilty. The court remanded him at Industrial Area Prison pending consideration of his bond and bail terms, with the matter scheduled for October 15.
The passport allegations could expose Elolo to a separate criminal process from the gold scam proceedings, with investigators seeking to establish how the disputed document was acquired, the identity under which it was issued and whether it was used for other journeys.
Immigration records under scrutiny
Investigators have sought Elolo’s travel records covering movements made using both his Congolese passport and the disputed Kenyan document.
They have also requested the supporting paperwork submitted during the Kenyan passport application process, alongside biometric verification to establish the identity of the passport holder.
According to the case account, the Directorate of Immigration confirmed a match in the biometric verification results. Investigators also established that the Kenyan passport had been issued on November 16, 2017.
But the application records reportedly indicated that the document was issued as a replacement for a lost passport, a detail that investigators are examining as they seek to establish the circumstances surrounding its issuance.
The reported biometric match and the disputed application history are important elements of the inquiry, but they do not, on their own, establish who submitted the application, whether the passport was fraudulently obtained or whether any immigration official was involved in wrongdoing.
Those questions remain subject to further investigation and evidence presented in court.
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