This is a letter from a victim of the constant intellectual property theft in the country. Kenyan corporates are extremely notorious for stealing ideas and fronting them as their own. Many of the people you find in big offices just moonlight there, waiting to pounce on an idea and present it to their bosses all with the intent to safeguard their jobs.
Hello,
I hope this finds you well. I’m a 1st year student at Daystar university. I write to you seeking your assistance in the predicament my older brother and I are facing. We were being accused of uttering falsehoods and forging documents with intent to defraud, charges that were being brought against us because we were asking questions that would uncover a fraud at EQUITY BANK head office. We were recently acquitted of all THE CRIMINAL charges and we intend to sue. Please allow me to briefly state the background of the story.
I was an upcoming artist and still is. In 2013 while I was 16 years, my manager secured a “contract” with Equity Bank to produce a song to be used in their Wings to Fly programme. I produced the song and presented to Equity Bank.
During this process I was in contact with several managers (names withheld) from the communications department and also got a chance to meet with the CEO Dr. Mwangi. After meeting with the CEO I was sent to the Communications manager by his secretary where I was to sign a contract for the copyrights of the song, a contract worth 10 Million . Being a minor I could not legally sign a contract, so I was asked to return the next day with my parent to countersign the contact.
That same evening after my meeting with the managers, I received a call from a representative of Equity Bank by the name Mary Njoki who asked me to check my email for a document that she had sent and I was asked not to come for the meeting as agreed. She also told me that a contract would be sent to me in a few days but since my fan base was not big enough the contract amount had been reduced to 2.5 Million. The scanned document that was attached to the email had a number of discrepancies and made no sense. At this time I was still in high school. FORM 2.
When all this started my big brother decided to follow up the matter. He was invited to a boardroom meeting where all the four communication managers were present, the environment was very hostile. All the managers claimed that although they knew me, they were only mentoring me. One manager claims, in his statement, that I approached him in his office, forced him to listen to a CD with songs that I wanted equity bank to produce and market.
During the meeting my brother was asked if he believed that the managers were only mentors, when he openly said he did not believe them, the senior communications manager instructed the head of security to escort him to the basement and hold HIM there until he produced the source of the document, yet he was only inquiring why the document had discrepancies. The email had since been hacked and deleted.
MY BROTHER wrote letters to both the CEO and company secretary Mrs. Wamae but they were intercepted by the managers and a reply to both letters was sent in a brown envelope with no official stamps. The day after we received the letters my brother and I went to Equity Bank to record a statement as the letter had demanded.
When we arrived, the investigations officer openly refused to take my statement and instead threatened us and called a friend from the BFIU. The BFIU officer took the case file and after some discussion with the equity officer and the managers he escorted us to his office. I was 17 yrs old and was legally bound to have an adult present when giving my statement, when the BFIU officer asked my brother to keep a distance and he did not, he decided not to record any statement and we were held at his office till late evening as he looked at the case files.
Later that evening charges were brought against us. WE WERE GIVEN BENEFIT OF DOUBT ACQUITTALS on the criminal case. I was a minor while undergoing all this. I was put on trial without even ever recording a statement. Equity uses the song and implemented the proposals I gave them.
Get intouch for more details.
(kindly withhold my identity when reporting the story)