By Were Kelly
A key witness took center stage at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi during the hearing of a high-profile fraud case involving two Nigerian nationals, Ali Ojo and Victor Nyekazi Wagwu.
The two were charged with multiple offenses, including defrauding a Kenyan businessman of USD 420,000 (approximately KSh 60.9 million) through an elaborate fake currency scam.
The most critical revelation came during the witness’s testimony, where they explained the differences between the fake U.S. dollar bills recovered and genuine currency.
The witness, told the court that some of the counterfeit notes bore identical serial numbers, a clear indication of forgery. They added that the fake bills lacked standard U.S. currency security features, such as embedded threads, watermarks, and proper texture.
The court heard that between January 20 and May 19, 2023, the accused conspired with others not before the court to obtain $420,000 from Noor Omar Ahmed by pretending the money was needed to purchase chemicals used to clean U.S. dollar notes.
Mr. Ahmed was allegedly convinced the funds would be used to remove stamps from legitimate dollar bills, which later turned out to be
In addition to the fraud charge, the accused were also charged with making papers for forgery, contrary to Section 367(a) of the Penal Code. The prosecution stated that the suspects produced fake papers designed to resemble 100 U.S. dollar bills, intending to pass them off as genuine currency.
Further charges revealed that both Ojo and Wagwu were found to be unlawfully present in Kenya. They were arrested on August 8, 2023, at Rubis Petrol Station near Bellevue, Nairobi. Authorities confirmed that neither of them possessed valid passports or entry permits, a violation of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act, 2011.
The ODPP (Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) confirmed that investigations were still ongoing and more suspects might be implicated.
