Flashy pastor James Wanjohi in Sh600m jobs scam on DCI’s no-fly list

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has placed flashy pastor James Wanjohi, who is wanted over a Sh600 million jobs scandal, on a no-fly list.

It has also emerged that police have opened a criminal investigation on yet another recruitment agency accused of swindling Kenyans Sh700 million for overseas jobs that never were.

In a letter addressed to the Director-General of Immigration and Citizen Services, the DCI requests for a “stop order” against Mr Wanjohi and three directors of the second firm under investigation.

“For purpose of investigations, please place a stop order and furnish this office with travel history in respect of the above captioned persons,’’ Nairobi Regional Criminal Investigations Officer Peter Njeru Nthigah writes in the letter dated April 23.

Police said the travel alert was placed with the Immigration department after Mr Wanjohi failed to turn up for questioning even after promising to do so for the better part of last week.

Mr Wanjohi, who is a lead pastor at Jesus Culture Ministries in Roysambu, is under investigation after companies associated with him—WorthStart Africa and WorthStart Travel Agency,—were accused of conning job seekers Sh600 million for non-existent foreign jobs.

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More than 4,000 job seekers each paid fees ranging between Sh120,000 and Sh140,000 to WorthStart Africa based in Nairobi’s Pension Tower ostensibly for caregiver and hotelier jobs in Canada, United Kingdom, United States of America and Australia.

But the victims neither secured visas to travel abroad nor the employment, instead some were slapped with five-year bans by the Canadian embassy for falsified applications.

Yesterday, Mr Nthigah told the Nation that the DCI is also going to write to National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to stop any transfer of three luxury motor vehicles—Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Prado and a Jeep Wrangler—that are registered in Mr Wanjohi’s name.

Three directors of the recruitment agency have also been slapped with a travel ban. The Nation is not revealing the name of the firm or the identities of the directors because we were unable to get their responses by the time of going to press.

“We feel it is time we do justice to Kenyans who everyday line up at Nyayo House seeking passports with a promise of foreign jobs only to be conned,” Mr Nthigah said.

Mr Nthigah said authorities will secure temporary court orders to freeze cash held in the accounts of the suspect recruitment agencies “so that at the end of the legal process people who lost money can get refunds”.

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On Tuesday, the Nation exclusively reported that victims who paid cash to the firms linked to Mr Wanjohi hoping for overseas jobs were desperately trying to get their money back months after it dawned they were on a wild goose chase.

Detectives investigating WorthStart Africa and its affiliate companies explained that the scheme unfolded in three ways.

One was advertising of job openings in Europe in the mainstream media and social media. When job seekers visited their offices, they asked to pay between Sh100,000 and Sh140,000.

They were not issued with job contracts but a visa facilitation contract. Canadian visas range between Sh15,000 to Sh20,000.

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The second strategy was intentional poor documentation and cooked financial statements during visa application on behalf of job seekers, which saw mass rejection and candidates issued with visa bans.

The third strategy was having different company names under WorthStart Africa, among them WorthStart Travel Agency and WorthStart Barista Technical Institute, with applicants later taken round in circles under the guise that their contracts were erroneous or fell under the wrong company category.

Contacted by the Nation on Saturday, Mr Wanjohi said he is an investor at WorkStart Africa and maintained his company only deals with visa facilitation and not job placement.

“... take it from me, what is happening is malice from my competitors in the industry,” said Mr Wanjohi, who is also a director at Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Investment.

However, he could not explain the paid up advertisements on television and radio pushed by influencers in which his company advertises job placements.