A Nairobi widow is crying a river over Sh1.6 million she lost to a man posing as Deputy President William Ruto’s clansman, younger brother to former provincial commissioner Jasper Rugut and first cousin to a powerful Cabinet secretary.
Businesswoman Njoki Mitugo claims she fell for Geoffrey Kipng’etich Rugut’s name-dropping and keeping up appearances when they met in 2017.
“I was introduced to Rugut by a friend when he was ‘a civil engineer and owner of blue chip company in the city,’” she said.
Mitugo alleges that in their initial meetings, the smooth-talking Rugut posed as close adviser of a senior government official, specialised in behind-the-scenes operations.
Thereafter, they met several times in an exclusive hotel in Nairobi since Mitugo also had close ties with top government officials.
“He claimed to have been sub-contracted by a Chinese company to construct a Sh12 million water treatment plant at Kasarani and Gatundu and that he is a close ally of the Deputy President, indicating that they come from the same clan,” Mitugo said, adding that: “He appeared sincere, posed as a saved AIC elder, dressed to kill and even drove sleek vehicles.”
In March 2018, Mitugo loaned Rugut some cash to manage a “serious financial crisis after putting in a lot of money in the Kasarani project for which the Chinese were taking long to pay.”
The two drafted an agreement but “every time I asked him to sign, he was either being called by a certain CS, the President or the DP.”
In July 2018, when Rugut needed another loan, “we met and agreed and as usual and he cunningly evaded signing the agreement I had prepared. He told me the project would start in September, when it failed to materialise, he told me the bank had changed some clauses in the contract.”
Despite several promises, Mitugo has not received her money back and “when I threatened to report him in early March, he bragged that no police officer would record his statement.”
Nevertheless, the matter was booked at Central Police Station, Nairobi under OB 123/26/03/209 leading to brief arrest of the suspect after which he refunded less than Sh100,000 then he was set free under unclear circumstances.