How agents duped, stole Sh1.5m pay of Kenyan forced to fight for Russia

He returned to Kenya with a broken right hand and a heavy heart.

What had been a promise by Kenyan agents working for Russian human trafficking networks of 240,000 roubles per month (Sh388,800) had turned into a cat and mouse game loaded with uncertainty about who had accessed his bank account.

The account had been opened on May 16 the day they landed in St Petersburg believing that they were on the way out of joblessness and poverty - they had signed many forms written in Russian, not knowing they were being duped by unsmiling Russian individuals who lacked the courtesy to even introduce themselves by name.

He did not access his four -month salary as he escaped death through a hand of God in September, enduring the pain in his injured arm and a disturbed mind that every now and again brings back sounds of bombs even when there aren’t any.

In fact, I need counselling. I have been told “Javan Ooko tells The Standard at The Group’s offices during our second interview since his return to Kenya “When I see an undergrowth like that one I could easily stop and change direction because that was where dead bodies would be piled on the war frontlines in Ukraine”

Russian agents had stolen all his salaries for May, June, July and August which totalled to 960 000 roubles (Sh1.5million). They had also stolen the promised bonus of 10,000 dollars (Sh1.2million). That was a promise given to him and others after they disembarked from a Turkish Airlines plane that had passed through Istanbul on its way to St Petersburg. The bonus payment was to be made after two weeks of their being dispatched to the frontlines.

Following the drone hit that injured his arm, which took out a dead body he had been hiding under, he was promised compensation of 3.2Million roubles (Sh5.1million). None of these amounts of money came to him, even though it was deposited in his account. He has since lost hope after he learned real facts around the promise.

Today as Javan Ooko, not his real name, the man The Standard contacted and broke the October 27 headline Trapped in Russia, battles poverty, hospital bills that loom large before him as he treats his hand through the country’s wanting and expensive hospitals, his heart holding bitterness against Russia.

Two months after he was saved rather miraculously from Russia’s death enterprise, by Kenya’s mission in Moscow and came back home, whenever he sees Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov or any Russian on TV and on the socials he sneers, dismissing them as not human.

“Hiyo watu ni watu mbaya sana. Hawana roho (Those are evil people. They do not have a human heart)” He told The Standard during the interview.

“Kifo kwao sio jambo. Ukiwa operation zao yani mtu kufa sio kitu, kuwa injured kama hii mkono yangu niliaonyesha commander akaniambia that is normal! That uninjured finger can pull the trigger (Death to them is not an issue. While in the camps, when someone is killed it is nothing. Especially if you are an African. To be injured, like for my case when I showed the commander my freshly injured had, he told me ‘that is normal, that remaining finger can pull a trigger’”

A bank account he had opened in St Petersburg had been accessed and all money paid therein taken. When he came back from the war front in Ukraine because of an injury he was told that all the money deposited there had been withdrawn. During his follow-ups while recuperating at a military hospital the commander told him that if he wanted his salary and any bonus owed him, he had first to apply for Russian citizenship.

“Salary tuliambiwa ilitumwa of which mimi sikuwahi-ona” Javan said adding. “Sababu by the time ninatoka frontline ninapata kama akaunti yangu imekuwa blocked. Unaona? So by the time niliuliza commander…commander akaniambia…the money is for the government…for you to get the money you must sign the citizenship.  You must be a Russian citizen. But if you fail to do that, then the money is for the government. Hivyo ndio commander aliniambia. Sasa hiyo pesa sijaona hata shillingi moja (On salaries we were told that it was sent but we never saw it. By the time I was leaving the frontline I found my account blocked. When I asked the commander, he told me that to access that money I had to sign citizenship and become a Russia citizen. He said if you don’t that money goes back to the government)”

Already indebted after he was forced to porn a title deed to a land that his mother lives in Nyando in an effort to raise Sh156, 000 to pay for the cost of his surgery on his hand, he is struggling to pay the 3600 that he needs every Monday for the therapy sessions.

Despite signs of healing on his hand, two of his fingers, the middle finger and the ring finger have lost sense- they are numb. Doctors have recommended another surgery to remove the underlying problem. Now Javan is not sure when that is going to happen since the only thing stopping him from fully healing his hand is money.

“Saa unajua hiyo iliisha- physiotherapy. Nilipomaliza nikarudi Kenyatta wakaniambia now I should be going for the occupation therapy. Inafaa niwekewe kitu ingine. I don’t know how to call them..Itafanya hizi fingers zikuwe straight. Saa hiyo kitu pia inafaa nijilipie, one is 7000. Kwa hivyo pamoja itacost 14,000 (I completed physiotherapy and KNH and was told I now need occupational therapy, and some gadgets which I do not know what they are called would be inserted in the two fingers to straighten them. Each piece is Sh7,000 which totals to 14,000)

Already he owes the man holding his title deed more than Sh60,000. The man gave him Sh71,000 which was nearly half of the amount he needed to go through surgery. After the surgery, he is also indebted to Kenyatta National Hospital because he had paid only half as well as the man who gave him that half. There is also the weekly payment for therapy sessions

“So the promise of 240, 000 roubles per month I did not see it, because the account was blocked. It was paid but I did not get it. The bonus of 10, 000 dollars was also sent, but I did not access it. And also 3.2Million roubles for compensation, all was paid. But was withdrawn from my account”