By: Margaret Gachanja.
PROTUS
OPIYO OKOIT’S 10 YEARS OF FRAUD IS OVER
The former College of Business manager Protus
Opiyo Okoit who allegedly defrauded friends,
co-workers and other Businessmen in Busia County of close to KShs 1.5
million while a fugitive from law enforcement authorities on earlier charges is
being sought by police in Busia.
Protus was
known in Busia as a public Polytechnic Manager. He worked at a Nambale
College of business, where he allegedly charmed at least 19 investors into
backing a real estate project. Others gave him properties and were given
postdated cheques which never matured and other sold him cars. He did so while
hiding his criminal past, concocting a story of him being on ‘leave of absence’
from the civil service, and using a series of aliases to hide his true
identity, according to authorities and interviews with his alleged victims.
The imposter who was identified as Protus
Opiyo Okoit, who hails from Kwangamoru, Amukura Division in Busia county is
said to be a man of all colors pretending to be a director of a college, a
manager of a polytechnic and a strong business man who imports cars and sales
to potential customers.
“He
is such a bad person and has hurt so many people,’’ Gregory one of his victims
said in an e-mail on Friday. “I don’t think they will find him, considering his
past.”
For
years, Protus was the guy who got away. He had a knack with people, Gregory and
others said, a raconteur with brains and a taste for fine wine. He wowed investors
with his seeming empathy, his false boasts of having an active trust fund, and
his knowledge on an array of subjects.
He
slipped away from authorities for the first time in 2010, while operating a
business in Mumias town and Kisumu in 2011. He fled after he was sought by the
police for issuing fake bouncing cheques to unsuspecting customers
From
2011 through 2016, Protus is alleged to have solicited cash from young people
who were looking for employment in the armed forces, teaching profession and
medical. He promised investors returns ranging from 7 to 30 percent. In all, he
pledged to pay out more than 125 percent of the profits he expected to gain in
a sale of the property, according to the complaint.
One
investor, now a resident of Busia town, withdrew Kshs 780,000 from her Barclays
Bank account on the promise she would get her money back with 50 percent
interest, in 60 days.
But
by last month, investors were worried. Protus kept delaying the close of the
real estate deal, at a cost of Ksh200,000 each time
Police are asking everyone who is a victim to come out and
record a statement to help them arrest and prosecute the suspect who is said to
hiding in one of the slums in Kisumu County.
Police have also release his details as follows.
Name: Protus Opiyo Okoit
ID No. 13166575.
Location:Kwang’amoru
Division: Amukura
District: Teso South
County:Busia
Tel: 0719507905/0700702052
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