MCA Aspirant Charged with Conning an Elderly Man of Sh840,000 in a Fake US Trip

A Nyandarua politician was on Tuesday arraigned in court for allegedly defrauding an elderly man of over Sh800,000 in a fake United States trip.

Martha Wangari Kamau, who is eyeing the Ndaragwa Member County Assembly (MCA) seat in the August 9th elections, appeared before Kibera law courts resident magistrate Jackline Onjwang where she was charged with obtaining money by false pretenses.

The court heard that the accused defrauded one Harrison Mungai, 85, of Sh840,000 with a false promise of helping his friends and relatives to attend a one-month international conference in the US between April 1st and 30th.

The charge sheet read that on several dates between February 22nd and April 22nd, 2022, with the intent to deceive, she accepted the money falsely claiming that she could help the complainant’s relatives and friends attend the conference, a fact she knew to be false.

Wangari is said to have met Mungai and his grandson in Nairobi’s Central Business District where she promised to organize for a dozen people to attend the said conference and asked them to pay Sh140,000 each to cater for accommodation, food, and drinks for a month. The victims were to pay for their own air tickets.

Mungai informed his relatives and friends about the offer and they quickly sent him their contributions which he then transferred to Wangari via MPesa.

The accused denied the charges and was released on a Sh300,000 cash bail or an alternative bond of Sh500,000. The case will be mentioned on June 21st for a pre-trial and setting of hearing dates.