Photo: city lawyer Joel Kimutai Bosek
Japanese national Tasunori Asano has accused city lawyer Joel Kimutai Bosek of being at the centre of fake gold scammers who conned him Ksh72.9 million in gold deal gone sour.
According to the Japanese businessman, he hired Bosek as a manager and lawyer in a deal where he was buying 100 kilograms of gold from Kenyan dealers.
The deal was struck in 2016 between Kenyan logistics firm Customs Cargo Handlers through its managers Solomon Ligaga and Allan Collins Illunga and Asano, where a kilo of gold would cost Ksh300,000.
Bosek came into the picture in February 2017, brought on board by Mr Ligaga and Illunga, after Mr Asano demanded that a lawyer should be involved. He was to represent Mr Asano’s interests, and drafted the first agreement where the payment was to be channeled through his bank account.
According to reports, Mr Asano wired Ksh30 million to Mr Bosek’s bank account as the payment for the gold.
“They then promised me that I will get the gold within five days. However, the cargo was never supplied, but instead the supplier started giving one excuse after another as to why the shipment could not be delivered,” Mr Asano said
Instead, Mr Ligaga and Illunga started demanding Ksh37.5 million more, which they claimed were taxes required by the government before shipping the consignment. In return, the duo promised 37 kilograms of gold to compensate for the amount.
Instead of protecting his client, Bosek assured him that all would be well, despite knowing that the deal would not go through. In a statement recorded with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Asano says that Bosek even promised to keep 40kgs of gold for him, in case the deal failed.
“The lawyer then assured me that all will be well and even offered to take into possession a further 40 kilograms of gold into a safe custody on condition that if they failed to deliver the gold as agreed, he could release it unconditionally to me,” he said in his statement.
Being neck-deep in the deal, he had no option. He even got assurance from the lawyer, in writing, that he had received the 40kgs of gold and kept it in a safe in a bank in Upperhill.
Even after paying the money through the lawyer’s account, the two said they were experiencing problems shipping the gold, raising suspicion on Asano’s side.
“That is when it dawned on me that I had been conned by the three and that not even the lawyer was on my side. It is then that a friend, Mr Alphince Mumo of Alimann Logistics, told me that the documents that were handed to me by the three were fake,” he said.
“I paid a total of US$722080 (Sh72.2 million) to Mr Bosek to facilitate this transaction, but I have received nothing in return. Mr Bosek should be investigated for criminal misconduct.”
The case he launched with the DCI stalled, and even his new lawyer, Mr Musyoki Kimanthi, started getting promises of kickbacks from the amount swindled from Asano.
Collins Nzioki, suspected to be the cons’ representative, promised Mr Kimanthi 10 percent kickbacks in case he dropped the case.