Forex scam victims protest in court

A group of forex traders caused a stir at the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday over the delayed trial of businessman Manases Karanja who is facing charges of obtaining money by false pretence and running an illegal online forex business.

Police and court officers were forced to evict the complainants from the premises after they started shouting that they wanted a refund of their investments.

Mr Karanja is facing eight counts of carrying out business as an online forex broker without a licence from the Capital Markets Authourity or Central Bank of Kenya.

He is also accused of obtaining Sh3.7 million from different people by false pretence. He has since denied the charges and is out on a cash bail of Sh1 million.

He is said to have committed the offence at View Park Towers Nairobi on diverse dates between January 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019 being the director of Inter Web Global Fortune Limited.

When running the business, Mr Karanja is said to have invited members of the public to invest by depositing the funds with him.

In return, the investors were to get a monthly commission of 20 per cent of the amount invested. In case the relations got terminated, the investors were to get a full refund of the initial deposit.

Yesterday, when the case was called the trial failed to proceed since the presiding magistrate, Francis Adayi, was bereaved.

Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku mentioned the matter and scheduled it to proceed on February 24, 2020.

While protesting outside the court, the investors complained that they stood to lose their money as they implored the Interior Ministry to intervene.