The DCI says the College situated at Hakati House along Mfangano Road in Nairobi’s Central Business District has not been registered as an academic institution and that unsuspecting victims have been conned over Ksh.70 million.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DCI disclosed that the college after irregularly registering only as an ‘unspecified business’ in 2021, has been fraudulently charging students about Ksh.350,000 each for a one-week-long course with a promise of securing jobs in the USA, Europe and Australia.
“It has since been established that the college whose operations kicked off in 2021 is not registered as a training institution, and the proprietors only made several unsuccessful attempts to register it through online Technical and Vocational Education and Training Management Information System (TVET MIS) application portal recently after getting wind of the ongoing investigations,” stated DCI.
“Further investigations have revealed that the college is only registered as an unspecified business, the nature of it being institution/polytechnic/colleges as per the records held in the Business Registration Service (BRS) database.”
DCI said that preliminary investigations revealed that upon completion of the course, “the students would be “subjected to a perpetual waiting mode while others are dropped with reasons of not meeting the minimum requirements.”
In the puzzling syndicate, detectives established that no refunds would be made to the aggrieved students and those who pursued refunds would be threatened with legal suits.
“In a bid to intimidate victims who are since demanding refunds or the agreed upon jobs abroad, the main suspect Ms Teresia Mumbi Kamau and her accomplice Thaitu Ng’ang’a & Associate (an advocate) threaten them with legal suits,” DCI explained.
Following a complaint filed at the DCI in September, sleuths probing the matter requested Mumbi to provide documentation of the institution but she instead filed for anticipatory bond application in a High Court and has since avoided the premises.
“In the ongoing preliminary stages of investigations, the investigating team requested Teresia Mumbi to avail the relevant licenses and documents including an accreditation certificate from TVET and proof of partnership, agreement or contracts with USA, Europe and Australia, but in non-compliance, she filed for anticipatory bond application in a High Court. She has further avoided the institution premises since,” DCI noted.
As the DCI heightens its investigation, victims have been urged to report to the office of DCI Regional Headquarters Nairobi.