Blaise Wafula Nabiswa, a 22-year-old boda boda rider, and Jacklyne Tokesi, a 20-year-old school leaver, have been charged with fraud in a Milimani Law Court in Kenya.
While masquerading as the spouse of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, the two suspects unlawfully obtained over Sh282,000 from their victims through 14 fake Facebook accounts.
The accused persons had a huge following on the social media platform, with the least having 7,000 followers and the highest having 27,000 followers.
The duo ran a bogus loan scheme in which they purported to be offering academic scholarships, education loans, soft financial loans and job opportunities to their victims.
According to the State Prosecutor, Anderson Gikunda, the two suspects fraudulently obtained millions of shillings from unsuspecting loan applicants, contravening Section 38 (2) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2018.
The suspects face a second count of conspiring to commit an offense and a third count of obtaining money fraudulently. The actual amounts that were fraudulently obtained will be disclosed at the trial as the police are still compiling the figures.
The defense lawyer sought to remand the accused until Friday for a bail application. Still, the Chief Magistrate, Lucas Onyina, declined, saying that prison custody was the place to detain suspects.
The two suspects deny all three charges and have been remanded in prison until Friday, when they will be produced in court for a bail application.
