This archive report was first published on 27 August 2019.
On August 27, 2019, the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) in Kiambu County made a significant arrest, catching a local politician off guard.
Gladys Chania, a politician who vied for the Woman Representative seat in 2017, has been accused of defrauding Kiambu County residents of millions of shillings with false promises of linking their family members to rehabilitation centers in the US.
Chania's alleged scam was run under the umbrella organization, 'Right At Home Rehabilitation Centre', which she founded after returning from the UK, where she had gone for further studies.
Some of her alleged victims include Eric Gathogo and Martin Kahunguro, who have recorded statements at Thika Police Station, alleging that they lost Ksh 200,000 and Ksh 251,000 respectively, with the hope of flying to the US as promised by Chania.
'I was making my payments via M-Pesa from April 2017 and concluded paying the amount totalling Ksh 251,350 late last year, with hopes that I would travel to the US, only for her to tell me that she owed me nothing,' Kahungura narrated.
The East African Sub-Saharan African Safe Promotion Foundation, an NGO, is also among the list of victims, having allegedly been defrauded of Ksh 480,000.
Chania assured the organisation that she could use her contacts to influence aid from the African Development Bank.
However, given her engagements in the media and political scenes, the victims trusted her completely and maintained that they did not have a reason to doubt her.
According to the detective's report, Chania was tricked by the detectives trailing her, posing as clients who had a relative that desired to travel to the US, and sweetened the deal with a Ksh 200,000 downpayment to entice her out of hiding.
As they say, set a thief to catch a thief, Chania fell into her own traps. The detectives then arrested her and took her to court, where she was released on a cash bail of Ksh 50,000.
