The director of Goldenscape Group, who is alleged to have swindled Kenyans of millions of shillings in fake greenhouse investment deals, has been charged at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
On Thursday, March 18, Peter Wangai Muriithi was arraigned before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku where he denied 21 counts of obtaining money by false pretenses and issuing bad cheques.
According to the prosecution, the Goldenscape founder and chief executive officer offered investors the option of leasing greenhouses with contracts that promised rich returns, only to fail to pay them from late 2019 despite numerous promises and assurances.
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In the first count, the court heard that on June 28, 2019, and January 3, 2020, at Goldenscape Greenhouses Ltd offices at Kimathi House in Nairobi County, Wangai with intent to defraud obtained from Edith Kinya Gitonga Sh700,000 for greenhouses by falsely pretending that he was in a position to pay Sh275,000 as return on investment on each greenhouse after six months, a fact he knew to be false.
After denying the charges, the accused sought to be released on reasonable bail terms, saying he is not a flight risk as his place of abode is well known to the officers.
Wangai told the court that since March 2020 when the investigations in the matter commenced he has suffered a lot as his personal assets were confiscated and his accounts frozen.
"l seek favourable bail terms as the assets belonging to the business too are laying to waste at the DCI headquarters. My client has suffered immensely in the hands of the officers," said Wangai's lawyer.
But over 1,040 victims, represented by several lawyers led by Ben Musundi, told the court that Wangai should deposit his passport in court because he is a flight risk.
They told the court that the company had several directors and so far two directors have fled to South Africa.
However, Wangai's lawyer dismissed the allegations by the victims and told the court that his client was the only director of Goldenscape.
The magistrate ordered Wangai to be released on a bond of Sh5 million or a Sh2 million cash bail with one contact person.
He was also ordered to surrender his traveling documents to the court pending the hearing and determination of the case.
The case will be mentioned on April 1 for pre-trial
