Seven held over Sh60M scam run from Harambee House

On March 10, 2026, at around 3 pm, a team of police officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) visited Harambee House along Harambee Avenue, Nairobi.

This is a critical security installation that houses the Office of the President and is also the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and National Administration.

On this day, the DCI officers’ mission was not to have a cup of coffee and special pastries with President William Ruto or Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, the man responsible for taming criminals. The officers, led by Inspector of Police George Karanja, were pursuing seven individuals they believed were committing a crime in the offices.

In the operation, Michael Musyoki Ngumbi, Evans Simotwo, Geoffrey Were Odondi, Allan Mutahi Kariuki, Purity Njeri Njamiu, Muniaro Jared Masinde and Kororia Simatwa were arrested.

They are said to have posed as senior government officials who could swiftly move files through the corridors of the Office of the President and even fast-track the award of multi-million-shilling contracts.

Investigators believe they had already made a tidy Sh60.9 million from a foreigner. The deal was to help the investor clinch a lucrative tender to supply the government with 500 ambulances.

DCI officers had received a complaint that some individuals had allegedly promised to deliver the lucrative tender, but on condition that the complainant would oil their pockets.

In their application to detain the seven individuals, investigators on Wednesday told Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Teresia Nyangena that they were probing them over claims of obtaining money by false pretences, acquisition of proceeds of crime, money laundering and possession of proceeds of crime.

“We urge this honourable court to be pleased to issue custodial orders that the respondents herein be detained for 14 days from today at Capitol Hill Police Station in Nairobi to allow a team of investigators at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations comprising of but not limited to Senior Sergeant Odhiambo, Sergeant Itegi, Chief Inspector Muthui, Inspector Njoroge and Inspector Karanja, all police officers and investigators at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, to complete investigations on a case of conspiracy to defraud,” said the application.

Musyoki, Simotwo, Were, Mutahi, Njeri, Masinde and Simatwa are believed to have played different roles in the alleged syndicate.

The investigator further claimed that the foreigner, whose identity has not been disclosed, had been duped into believing he would secure a tender to supply the government with 500 ambulances, and that he had already been defrauded of $470,750 (Sh60 million).

According to the investigator, some of the arrested men posed as senior government officials who could influence decisions and even enter into contracts on behalf of the government with foreign investors and businesspeople.

So daring were they, he said, that they even planned to meet the complainant at Harambee House.

“On this basis and through other fraudulent tricks, the complainant was invited by some of the suspects to meetings at Harambee House. Indeed, the respondents were arrested at Harambee House after one such meeting,” he alleged.

Investigators are now looking into how the suspects accessed the building, who authorised their entry and why meetings allegedly aimed at criminal activities were being held at a building that houses the President’s office and the Interior CS.

“It is therefore imperative for the applicant to investigate the breach that resulted in the convening of meetings aimed at criminal purposes at government premises that house, among others, the office of the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, and the Office of the President, and which is gazetted as a protected government installation,” he said.

According to him, there could be other persons, including government officials, who may have been involved. He told the court that the probe could also extend to Uganda.

The seven opposed the application to be detained, arguing the officer had already detailed the offences they would be charged with. They also told the court that they had been held for more than 24 hours.

Nyangena allowed the officers to hold the seven for five days.

“The prosecution has argued that the matter is complex as it touches on national security, having been committed at Harambee House, which houses the Office of the President and the Ministry of Interior and Government Coordination. Further, that the matter also touches on individuals from across the border in Uganda and that there are also parallel financial investigations, the complainant having lost over Sh60 million,” she observed.

The case will come up on Tuesday.