Kenyan, Nigerian charged for defrauding Italian Ksh18M in fake gold deal

By , K24 Digital
On Thu, 6 May, 2021 14:16 | < 1 min read
Gideon Nuka Gbaravopnu and Seth Steve Okute

A Kenyan and Nigerian national have been charged with falsely obtaining Sh18,500,000 from an Italian in a fake gold deal.

The two were to allegedly deliver 2000kgs of gold to the Italian in Dubai.

Gideon Nuka Gbaravopnu and Seth Steve Okute were arraigned on Thursday at Milimani Law Courts to take a plea.

Particulars of the offence are that on January 1st and April 30th this year at DTB Bank, Jomo Kenyatta Airport branch within Nairobi county, with others not before the court, defrauded Lewis Ikenna, an Italian citizen a total of US dollars 185000.

The Italian claim he was invited to Kenya by the Nigerian who was introduced to him at a church programme by a well-respected pastor in Port Hartcourt Fivers State in Nigeria.

He claimed the Nigerian man told him he was an international businessman dealing with petroleum and crude oil and that he was the CEO of Giotor integrated Services limited.

"In January 2021 he called and told me he had 2000kgs of Gold and he was looking for a buyer, I used my contact in Dubai and got a buyer and a sale agreement was signed between the buyer and the Nigerian company," said the Italian

The two pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released on a cash bail of Sh600,000 or Sh1M bond.