A husband, wife and an accomplice have been arraigned over a fraud scheme that led to the loss of Ksh22.1 million at the National Oil Corporation of Kenya.
The three were charged at the Kibera Law Courts following investigations by Detectives from the Investigations Bureau (IB) attached to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum that revealed theft and misappropriation of funds.
Investigators identified Gladys Kahaki Njubi, a former assistant accountant at the National Oil Corporation, as the key architect of the scheme.
Police say she conspired with her husband, Griffin Nyakang’o Omwenga, and a third suspect, Nehemia Onyunge Kibegwa, to siphon millions of shillings from the corporation before resigning from her position.
According to investigators, Omwenga registered five companies, Zoccom Enterprises Limited, Eceny Ventures Limited, Earthcare Supplier Services, Sparktec Ventures Limited and Jaffer Petrofill Africa Limited, which were used to receive payments from the corporation.
Detectives established that the firms neither bid for any tenders nor provided services to the National Oil Corporation, yet received close to Ksh22 million for services that were never rendered.
Police say Njubi exploited her role in processing payments to facilitate the fraud. To conceal the link to her husband’s companies, she allegedly used genuine documents from legitimate firms contracted by the corporation, allowing the payments to pass through internal approval systems without raising suspicion.
The third suspect, Kibegwa, a director of Kensons Constructions Limited, is also accused of benefiting from the scheme despite having no prior contractual engagement or bidding history with the National Oil Corporation.
Upon completion of investigations, the case file was submitted to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which approved charges of conspiracy to defraud, theft by servant, forgery and possession of proceeds of crime, among other offences.
The suspects were arrested on Wednesday January 28 and held at Akila Police Station before being presented in court later today.
They denied the charges and were remanded in custody pending a bond ruling set for February 4, 2026.
