Deputy President William Ruto has hit out at what he termed as business conmen who are involved in the Kshs 400 million fake gold saga, saying they shouldn’t involve President Uhuru Kenyatta and should carry their own cross. Speaking in Endebess in Trans Nzoia County, DP Ruto said the President’s nature and intentions are well understood and he can’t involve himself in such dealings, hours after an alleged audio of Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula discussing the deal with a Dubai contact was leaked.
The fake gold scam, which targeted Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has caught steam in the past few days and several arrests have been made. Attention was drawn to a house in Kileleshwa where more suspects were arrested, and it was guarded by GSU officers, pointing to a more elaborate network of high profile suspects. Politician Zaheer Jhanda is at the center of the storm and believed to be the ringleader of the fraud cast, and Wetangula’s name had also popped up, prior to the audio leak.
In the audio, he is heard assuring the contact that the purported gold deal is on and that Raila Odinga and the Head of State are involved in the deal, “There are no issues, your items are safe and since Raila brought it to the attention of the boss, let him (a minister) also go and explain to him what has been done so far.” DPP Noordin Haji has directed Police Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai to speed up the gold scam probe.
The Deputy President distanced the President from the scam and criticized those involved, “These people who are political conmen now are business conmen and they’ve now looked for fake gold,” he said, “They boarded planes to Dubai and did what they did, they should leave the President out of this and they should provide the answers.” Endebess MP Robert Pukose also chipped in, saying the handshake was a ploy to enable some leaders to look for gold. He said those who were on the forefront speaking against graft have been quiet for the last three days due to the increasing scrutiny of the fake gold scam.