Politician accused of defrauding German investor of Sh142 million

Mr Odenthal claims he took a €500,000 (Sh71.3 million) loan from a German bank and was forced to find other ways to pay off the debt after Ms Kagure and other company directors remained silent on him would have.

Calls to Ms. Kagure's known cell phone number were not returned on Wednesday and Thursday. Calls to her WhatsApp number were also not answered.

Ms. Kagure had not responded to our SMS and WhatsApp messages asking for details of the deal with Mr. Odenthal.

Mr. Odenthal intends to appoint Ms. Kagure, Mr. Nderitu, Kinyua Mwangi, Said Mohamed Farah and Franklin Were Juma as owners of Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd. to sue.

Through EA Law, Mr. Odenthal wants the company and its owners to refund his money with interest.

“Our client has made arrangements for the Criminal Investigation Department to take action and file appropriate charges given the obvious criminal element in this matter,” Ekuru Aukot, founding partner of EA Law, said in a letter to Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd and its owners.

At the time of the contract, Mr Odenthal was promised that he would transfer a percentage of the profits from the business to his German bank account each month.

Instead, he is looking for 4,500 euros (Sh641,500) a month to service the loan he took for the investment.

And while he feels the pressure to pay back the loan, Mr. Odenthal says he may have dodged a bullet. The German was so confident in the deal that he planned to invest another €3 million (Sh427 million).

“I feel cheated, stolen and betrayed… I had hoped to sell a building for €3 million to inject more capital into the company,” Mr Odenthal said in a statement filed with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). ) had recorded.

The promise was that his €1 million would go into a pool of funds put together by other investors and invest in the oil business.

The botched deal dates back to November 19, 2022, when Mr. Odenthal received a dinner invitation from his friend Jürgen Haese, another German citizen living in Cologne.

At dinner, Mr. Haese told Mr. Odenthal how he could mint millions from the oil business in Kenya.

Both are married to Kenyan women and Mr Haese claimed his wife Rose Kirimi was a close friend of Ms Kagure.

Mr Haese said he had invested €2.5 million (Sh356.3 million) and that he expected to receive 30 per cent of his investment every year.

Mr. Haese said that this is the minimum amount for any investor who wants to participate in the deal.

After thinking about the deal and becoming confident from his friend's enthusiastic testimony, Mr. Odenthal decided to proceed, but with caution.

He suggested putting 500,000 euros on the table. The suggestion was that Mr Haese should take the money and add it to the €2.5 million he had allegedly already deposited.

Mr. Haese refused and insisted that Mr. Haese invest independently.

The two agreed to travel to Nairobi so that Mr Odenthal could conduct his due diligence on the deal.

Mr. Odenthal claims that Ms. Kagure first contacted him on November 25, 2022.

Mr. Odenthal and Mr. Haese flew to Kenya on December 18, 2022 and spent a few nights at their spouses' homes in Nairobi and Diani.

On January 4, 2023, Mr. Odenthal met Ms. Kagure for the first time when he visited her at home. The introduction was given by Ms. Kirimi, Mr. Haese's wife.

Mr Odenthal told the DCI that after giving a lecture on how petroleum works in Kenya, Ms Kagure indicated that he was prepared to invest €500,000 to test the situation for about a year.

If things go well, he is ready to invest a further 1.5 million euros by July 2024.

Ms Kagure insisted on a minimum amount of 1.5 million euros, he added. An agreement was reached when Mr Odenthal said he could not risk more than a million euros.

The German said that Ms. Kagure drove him around Nairobi after lunch, a tour that took the entire afternoon.

On January 5, 2023, Mr. Odenthal, Mr. Haese, their spouses and Ms. Kagure were scheduled to travel to Nanyuki together and meet a company executive initially introduced as Benson Mwangi, aka Patron.

Mr Odenthal had been told that the oil company was based in Nanyuki.

Mr Odenthal told police that the man introduced as a patron was Joseph Mwai Nderitu, a co-owner of Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd with 500 shares. The only other owner, Business Registration Service records show, is Kinyua Mwangi with 500 shares.

Ms Kagure, Said Mohamed Farah and Franklin Were Juma are listed as directors but have no shares.

On Wednesday, Mr Nderitu said Nation.Africa that he was not involved in the affairs of Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd and said we should direct all questions to Ms. Kagure.

“It's not all directors who deal with the (day-to-day operations) of Trojan Six. Get in touch with the other principal (Mrs. Kagure),” he said.

Mr Nderitu has not yet responded to our text messages asking about his inclusion as director and to Mr Odenthal's claim that he hosted the delegation in Nanyuki.

Ms. Kagure reportedly canceled the Nanyuki trip at the last minute.

Mr Odenthal claims that Mr Nderitu's behavior gave him more confidence and belief in the investment.

According to Mr. Odenthal, he was not allowed to take any photos on the alleged company premises.

The following day, Mr Odenthal transferred €125,000 (Sh17.8 million) to a law firm following instructions from his future business partners.

On January 7, Mr Odenthal met Ms Kagure in her office in Nairobi and explained that he could only raise €1 million, half of which would have to be taken out through a loan.

Ms. Kagure reportedly agreed.

“Kagure agreed and accepted my suggestion above and told me that she was the boss on the board of the oil company and that I shouldn’t worry at all. Then we shook hands, hugged and she said “Welcome to the company”. This exchange of assurances from Kagure took place and was observed in the presence of Jürgen, Rose and Amina. After exchanging further pleasantries, Jürgen, Amina and I flew to Mombasa,” Mr Odenthal said in his statement to police.

On January 11, 2023, Mr Odenthal transferred €375,000 (Sh53.4 million) to the same law firm that he had been informed was the recipient of all investor funds.

On May 2, 2023, Mr. Odenthal's bank transferred 500,000 euros to the law firm, bringing his total investment to the agreed amount of 1 million euros.

Two days later he flew to Nairobi and signed contracts confirming the investment.

Ms Kagure and Mr Nderitu allegedly refused to let him read the contract before signing it.

“Don’t you trust us?” Mr Nderitu allegedly joked before explaining that the document would need to be stamped by a lawyer and would then be sent to him.

The next day he told the police that the contract was still not ready, and that's when it became clear: Mr. Odenthal said something was wrong.

“I mean, I transferred 1 million euros without a lawyer, your lawyer brings the contract to be signed; I only see him for five minutes and now I want a copy of the agreement I just signed and then I'm told it's not ready just because of a stamp? To date, I have not received this approval,” Mr. Odenthal said in his statement.

The contract called for him to receive money from Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd each month. would be received into his German bank account.

Mr Odenthal said in his statement that Ms Kagure, Mr Nderitu and Ms Kirimi called him to a meeting on May 11, 2023 where they demanded that he pay an additional €500,000 for the business to continue operating.

After insisting that he could not raise the funds, Ms Kagure and Mr Nderitu allegedly offered to loan him the money and he signed another agreement to that effect.

His friend's wife, Ms. Kirimi, had bought two bottles of champagne to celebrate the signing of the contract.

That was the last time he ever had real contact with one of his new business partners.

He says Ms Kagure has responded to some of his WhatsApp queries in the past but has never answered questions about his money.

Mr Odenthal has asked the DCI to initiate investigations against Trojan Six Oil 2019 Ltd and its directors. He hopes that these measures can result in them refunding his money with interest at current bank rates.