Kenyan Woman Charged with Conning Five People Seeking Jobs in Canada

A Kenyan woman accused of defrauding five people with a false promise of securing them jobs abroad has been arraigned in court.

Mercy Wamucii Wangari appeared before Principal Magistrate Esther Bhoke of Kibera law courts, where she was charged with obtaining money by false pretense.

She is accused of fraudulently obtaining money from three siblings, a neighbor, and a businessman while purporting to be in a position to secure them jobs in Canada.

The charge sheet read that the accused swindled Ann Wanja Karanja, her sister Maria Waria Karanja, her brother Stephen Karanja, their neighbor Peter Mwaura Kamau, and businessman Abdisirat Hassan.

She committed the said offenses on diverse dates between September 29th and October 15th, 2020 at her Nazarite Trading Company Limited offices along Moi Avenue in Nairobi CBD.

Ann Karanja learned of the Canada jobs from Wangari and brought in her siblings and neighbor, Kamau. 

Court documents show that each of the five lost Sh150,000 paid to Wangari as recruitment agency fee and air tickets, and a further Sh30,000 for processing of travel documents.

They were later required to pay $3,500 (Sh38,500) for labor market impact assessment, which was to be done at the Maldives, before traveling to Canada.

The court heard that on the day the five were scheduled to travel, the accused person started giving lame excuses, forcing the complainants to report the matter to the police.

Wangari was ordered to appear at Parkland police station, where she was arrested after showing up in the company of her attorney. 

She pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a cash bail of Sh80,000 and an alternative bond of Sh300,000 with a surety of a similar amount. The matter will be mentioned on February 9th.