How businessman Brian Reeves Obare allegdgly defrauded Sh51M from a travel Consultant Company
Lydia Nyagala main witness
Kenyan businessman Brian Reeves Obare is in court battling the charges of fraud, where he allegedly defrauded a travel consultancy company of Sh 51.2 million contrary to the law.
According to the court papers, which include the chargesheet, the accused person is said to have defrauded Golden Key Travel Consultants and obtained money by false pretences.
He has so far denied the charges, and through his defence lawyer, the accused person accuses the prosecution witness of failing to account for the amount of Sh51 million in the charge sheet against his client.
In the case, Lydia Nyagala, a former employee of Golden Key Travel Consultants Limited is the main witness against the accused person.
The accused person is said to have fraudulently acquired the said amount through the acquisition of proceeds of crime contrary to the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, linked to the purchase of a Land Rover Discovery, and personation contrary to Section 382 of the Penal Code for allegedly posing as a Canadian consular official.
In court she faced an uphill task to explain her employment status, the company’s records, the accuracy of the financial figures, and the authenticity of documents produced, issues the court is expected to determine as the trial continues.
The case is before Milimani principal magistrate Paul Mutai.
The case was ironic and scary and also shocking. After the cross-examination, her identity was put into question by the defence lawyer when evidence of her was presented where a photo image of her misrepresenting herself as Nancy Nanjira in accounting opening forms with I&M Bank was presented before the court. This left everyone in court astonished.
It is at this time that the defence told the court that the image looks similar, yet she purports that Nancy Nanjira is another woman.
The lawyer told her that the integrity of the bank verification may be brought into scrutiny if it is proved that Lydia faked her identity and still managed to open an account as Nancy Nanjira at the I$M bank.
When asked to verify any proof of refunds of money paid by clients to Golden Key, She could not, and she said it was the duty of the investigation officer.
In the same court, the magistrate heard that Nyagala was a human resource manager of Golden Keys through experience and not through qualifications in education.
The lawyer said that from the evidence of Lydia, the purported company which is the complainant in the case, the company Golden Keys was not even registered before January 2024.
Which means that the allegations that the accused person received money from the company between 2021 and 2022 were not true.
The court further heard that the witness’s (Nyagala’s) husband, Bonaventure, is a polygamous man is also married to another woman in the company by the name of Nancy Nanjira and he loves her too
