Following a complaint made by an American national on a fake tender diddle that saw his companies lose over Ksh 182 million to a ring of scammers in Nairobi, the Operations Support Unit detectives have arrested one key suspect within the precincts of Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi.
Michael Otieno Owano, an advocate and supposed face of Owano Michael & Co. Advocates was arrested yesterday after a session he had attended at court no. 5 for the mention of another criminal case (CR 145/13/2024) in which he is the accused person.
The facts preceding his arrest date back to 2022 when the proprietor of the American-based company Underground Pipeline Rehabilitation Company was lured to jet in the country by one Alvin Alexander (the purported CEO of Orion AST Company) to allegedly meet some government officials and discuss the Kenyan government’s award of tenders.
Oblivious of the prime suspect’s choreographed machinations, the complainant flew into the country, where they held several meetings in various offices and was handed three different fake tender documents as follows;
- Tender No KCAA/032/2021-2022: Tender for Supply, Installation and Commissioning of Area Control Centre and Disaster Recovery System equipment
- Tender No ICTA/RFP/03/2022-2022: Provision of Consultancy Services for the Process of Design, Implementing and maintenance of an Information Management System (ISMS)
- Tender No. MEWNR/T/18/2021-2022. Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS).
In the process, the complainant was hoodwinked to make payments to facilitate the tenders and work permits as part of the conditions to be met before commencing the projects. Payments amounting to USD 1,617,200 (equivalent to Ksh 182,743,600) were made as instructed by the purported government officials, through four different escrow accounts operated by four law firms as follows;
- Owano Michael & Company Advocates – $90,000 for legal fees for contracts 1&2)
- Ollando Misare & Associates, LLP – $30,000 for legal fees, $262,000 and $285,000 for Bid Bond for contract 3)
- Dennis Onyango & Company Associates – $200,200 for work permits for Orion employees
- Ouko Angado Co. Advocates – $750,000 for work permits for Orion employees.
What followed the payments were months of being taken in circles, with the once hospitable and respectable members of the syndicate blocking contact and foiling scheduled meetings. Devastated, the complainant reported the fraud to the DCI and investigations were launched.
The first suspect (Owano Michael), who is not new to court corridors over such scams, was taken into custody and processed for arraignment today but was later released on cash bail to await the approval of the charges preferred against him by the ODPP. His accomplices are also being pursued.