ODM Leader Raila Odinga was almost duped into the messy fake gold affair involving the Dubai royal family.
According to Odinga’s aides who were quoted by local media, the former prime Minister was approached by one of the fraudsters while on a trip in Dubai.
The scammer visited the ODM Leader’s hotel and asked him to call Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to convince him to release his “gold consignment” that was allegedly held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The fake gold dealer gave Odinga his phone to speak to a number saved as CS Matiang’I but the former Prime Minister quickly realized that the man on the other end was an impersonator.
He returned the phone and angrily ejected the conman out of his hotel.
The flamboyant scammer had hatched an elaborate con trick on Ali Zandi - a nephew of the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
After receiving money for gold to be transported from the DCR (Congo) through Uganda and into Kenya, the notorious conman claimed that the consignment was intercepted at JKIA and even printed fake newspaper headlines to convince Zandi of the same.
He then asked for a bribe to be taken to the Matiang’i impersonator have the cargo cleared.
The Nation on Tuesday reported that it had been approached by Zaheer Jhanda to write a story on how his gold worth Sh5 billion had been detained at the JKIA. The paper said it did not publish the story after it found it to be untrue.
The matter is said to have finally reached President Uhuru Kenyatta after the Dubai ruler asked for his cargo to be released by the Kenyan authorities.
Upon enquiry, President Kenyatta is said to have been informed that there was no such cargo held by security officials and ordered the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti to take up the matter and deal with the scammers.