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Gideon Mwiti Irea linked to the collapsed Kenya Akiba Micro-Finance and Kenya Business Community Co-operative Society Ponzi scheme for pretending that he was in a position to offer a monthly interest rate of 16 per cent.

10/02/09 - Nairobi — A businessman linked to pyramid schemes was on Wednesday charged with obtaining Sh10 million fraudulently.

Gideon Mwiti Irea denied four counts of obtaining the money from Fridah Kibiti and Betty John Tomlison in 2007.

According to the charge sheet at a Nairobi court, Mr Irea is alleged to have obtained Sh7 million from Ms Kibiti by falsely pretending that he was in a position to offer a monthly interest rate of 16 per cent.

He also obtained Sh3 million from Tomlison. He was granted a Sh300,000 cash bail pending hearing of the case on November 11.

Irea was linked to the collapsed Kenya Akiba Micro-Finance and Kenya Business Community Co-operative Society.

He was named in a parliamentary report and by a task force on ponzi schemes chaired by former minister Francis Nyenze.

The task force was instituted by Co-operative minister Joseph Nyagah. The report lists masterminds of the schemes and says they cost Kenyans Sh34 billion.

Most of the schemes collapsed in 2007, leaving many investors destitute. The task force was formed in February 2008 and toured the country, collecting views and registering victims who lost money in the schemes.

It recommended that the masterminds be prosecuted.

The team also identified some assets which it said were obtained through fraud. The bulk of the assets are in Kenya, but others are said to be in Canada.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200910020759.html