When Francis Wambugu Mureithi Wambugu met Mr. Haile Menkerios, a diplomat from Eritrean he used fraud tactics to try and defraud him millions and yes he managed.
Menkerios had just retired from his work from the United Nation and wanted to have a good investment in Nairobi. As a good man who trusted people, he has solved various conflicts in the globe and he had just retired from his work.
To make his dream valid. He came to Nairobi.
He by bad lack met a city Fraudster who posed a man with strong links with senior government officials by then.
The fraud, known as Francis Mureithi then promised to help him out and he forced him out of his retirement. Be cause had a good Curriculum Vitae which includes stellar degrees from Brandeis and Harvard abd also the leadership roles he held at the UN gave him many bonga points.
So through his Friend Abeba Weldehaimanot, they landed to a young Fraudster who was smart to trigger his shots, Mr.Francis Wambugu Mureithi. So in her house, the diplomat met Francis Wambugu Mureithi. He pretended to be a man with connections. In Every call he made, he pretended to be speaking with senior government officials. He promised to hand him a tender to the Ministry of Defence.
The deal involved Mureithi supplying on behalf of the diplomat some food staffs to the Military. He triggered the first shot, ordering the diplomat to hand him cash to start the work. Controversial Mureithi also promised to deliver the profit once they supply the food products to the Military. At the same place, Mr Weldehaimanot and Hussein Osman, told the diplomat that Mureithi would deliver on time. The diplomat Haile Menkerios fell to the trap and thanked God for granting some good Investors. He said that his life had completely changed. At first he transferred USD 235,000 (about Sh25 million) to Francis Wambugu Mureithi’s company, Doc Find Ltd, through Weldehaimanot’s account. The deal promised a quick refund plus ten percent profit.
Before that could happen, Mureithi dangled an even juicier offer: reinvest the full amount at 30% returns. Menkerios agreed, adding more money until the total reached about USD 618,000. Over time, the amount ballooned to nearly Sh320 million. After that Mureithi began hide and seek giving false promises.
He even blamed political interference that has allegdgly made the deal not to go through.
In the deal, a sugar supply contracts, weighbridge projects, and jute bag tenders were all supposed to benefit the diplomat. It’s because of this the Menkerios believed it all Hoped that his life would have changed. However, in 2018 after Menkerios came to learn that he had been conned by Mureithi and his accomplice, he filed a civil suit in Nairobi’s Milimani Commercial Court, demanding nearly USD 5 million in losses and interest from Mureithi. Responding to his suit after years of absence.
Mureithi told the court that the deal had , no contracts, no deliveries. He told the court that Menkerios had channelled the money to his affiliated account for his own personal missions which was to by-pass the UN rule . He told the court that the Sh320million was for consultancy. The matter was reported to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and after days of investigations, the DCI branded Francis Mureithi a Fraudster and preferred criminal charges against Mureithi.
The DCi investigations shows that all of Francis Mureithi’s deal and contract were fake. According to the DCI, the money wer sent to some private accounts; luxury property and shares worth tens of millions. He was then charged with fraud alongside his buddy Francis Mwauura, . As years passed, justice remained elusive. The criminal case stalled with adjournments and appeals.
In 2023, Justice Freda Mugambi dismissed Menkerios’s civil case, terming the entire deal a sham. She ruled that no reasonable investor could pour millions into a business without official documents like tender bids or invoices. To her, it was an illegal scheme undeserving of court protection. The decision was devastating.
Menkerios appealed, arguing that the court ignored evidence and misinterpreted the law. His appeal is still pending, but each delay weakens hope.
The criminal trial, too, has slowed down, bouncing between Kiambu and Milimani courts.
For Menkerios, according to his close friends has really suffered in the hands of Mureithi and that he wants Justice to be served to him.
He also wants President William Ruto to intervene on the matter.