Details have emerged of how televangelist David Kariuki Ngare, popularly known as Gakuyo, siphoned more than Sh1 billion belonging to 78,000 members of
Gakuyo is said to have used the money to upgrade his lifestyle by buying prime properties for his family and boosting his struggling real estate firm.
According to Daily Nation, Some of the money was withdrawn using the Sacco’s vice-chairman James
Only an estimated third of the money — Sh507,900,374 — could be traced to members who took out loans from Ekeza to acquire properties from Gakuyo Real Estate, meaning an estimated Sh1 billion went to the “Man of God” and his accomplices.
Though members of the management and supervisory committees were drawing salaries, they had abdicated their roles, leaving Mr. Gakuyo, who has been grappling with allegations of faking academic papers, to run down the Sacco by using its money to finance his personal businesses.
A damning audit report by the government on the sacco’s operations has revealed that irregular cash outflows of an estimated Sh1.5 billion from Ekeza accounts to Gakuyo Real Estate, Mr Kariuki, Ms Muriithi, Mr Wanjuu and some law firms were made between 2015 and 2018.
About Sh1.419 billion was irregularly transferred from the sacco’s Equity Bank account, with Sh88,138,375 transferred in 2015; Sh850,463,877 in 2016; Sh454,097,630 in 2017; and Sh27,002,220 last year.