Two suspects believed to be part of a ring of fraudsters fleecing prospective investors in petroleum industry while impersonating as offi.al Environmental Management Authority have been arrested in Kiambu county..
The duo Jared Omboga and James Ombasi were nabbed in the act after a section of the business community who fell prey to their scheme tipped the authorities before a dragnet was laid for the conmen although most of their alleged accomplices were still on the loose.
Preliminary investigations into the incident indicated that the fraudsters who posed as NEMA registered consultants lured would be investors in the gas and petroleum sector to seek relevant registration papers through their bogus firm only to issue fake documentation at a fee.
Kiambu County NEMA Director Mr. Stephen Wambua told KNA that the cartel going by a company name Bongotips consultants had extended their conning game in Kajiado, Narok and Kiambu counties
“The two arrested alongside others have been conning the public, clients and potential investors who want to undertake projects particularly in the petroleum sector and gas filling stations.” he said.
Mr. Wambua said the group fronted genuine documents to dupe clients that they were legitimate NEMA consultants to gain the trust of unsuspecting businessmen before they hatched their rip-off scheme
“We had a case last week where we went to a site of a client who had an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report that we suspected it was done by someone who is not licensed. We contacted the client who gave us contacts of the person who did the report and on checking our systems, we found that he has not been registered by NEMA” he said
“The client agreed to work with us to make an arrest and today, Mr. Omboga and Ombasi informed him that they wanted to bring over the initial environmental audit so that he can sign for it to be submitted to NEMA. Upon perusal of the documents, we found out that the documents are register to someone else” he added.
“The police are still pursuing the ringleader said to be the lead person in the Ponzi scheme” he noted.
The director further revealed that the group had been using documents that have been registered by other consultants officially under NEMA to get jobs from unsuspecting clients.
He added that Last week, the cons presented an invoice to the client purported to be from NEMA for payment for effluent discharge license of 25,000 shillings and that they did not remit the payment to NEMA as is expected of consultants.
The county director further urged the public to be on the lookout for any activities from Bongotips consultants to avoid being duped.
The duo will be arraigned before Kiambu courts today.
By Lydia Shiloya and Velma Mukhwana
