Kenyan in court over fraud

 

KENYAN Joel Rweyendera (37) appeared before the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam yesterday facing ten counts, including money laundering, posing to be a Tanzanian, procuring National Identification Card and getting employment at the Bank of Tanzania (BoT).

He denied the charges before Principal Resident Magistrate Huruma Shaidi. Rweyendera, alias Joel Machana who lives at Tabata Kisukuru, was denied bail because money laundering was among the charges he is facing, is not bailable. 

 

The case will be mentioned on November 23, as investigations, according to the prosecution, are incomplete. State Attorney Florentina Sumawe told the court that at unknown date and place, with intent to defraud, the accused person forged a birth certificate.

It is alleged that the accused person pretended to show that such certificate was genuinely issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths, a fact which was untrue. The court heard that fraudulently and knowingly, the accused person allegedly tendered such document to BoT.

According to the prosecution, the accused person purportedly showed that he was born in Dar es Salaam, while it was not. The prosecution told the court that in 1993, Rweyendera entered Tanzania without having any permit.

It is alleged that in 2008 at Immigration Department in the city, the accused person presented the alleged false certificate and declared himself to be Tanzanian for the purpose of obtaining a passport. At unknown date in the city, fraudulently, the accused person procured the National Identification Card, while knowing that he was not a Tanzanian.

It is alleged further that at Hananasifu area in Kinondoni District, the accused person procured Tanzania’s Voter’s Registration card from the National Electoral Commission.

The prosecution claimed that between June 2008 and October, the accused person obtained salaries of unknown amounts at the Bank of Tanzania, by pretending to be a Tanzanian, while it was false.

Rweyendera is also accused of directly engaging himself in transaction involving transferring a property to his name while he knew or ought to have known that the money used to acquire such property was proceeds of a predicate offence of forgery for the purpose of disguising the illicit origin of the money.

The prosecution also told the court that on October 7, 2012 at Pugu Ward in Ilala District, the accused person directly engaged himself in transaction involving transferring a farm to his name from that of Gerald Ajwang.

It is alleged that while doing so the accused person allegedly knew or ought to have known that the money used to acquire such property was proceeds of a predicate offence of forgery for the purpose of disguising the illicit origin of the money and evading legal consequences for his action.