It was one of the worst cases of fraud in history. US-based energy giant Enron Corporation ranked seventh on the list of America’s largest and most profitable companies in 2000.
So big was the financial enterprise that the company had an estimated asset base of Sh7.8 trillion with an annual turnover of over Sh10 trillion.
However, in December 2001, the company filed for bankruptcy. It later emerged that everything was made up after Fortune magazine exposed how Enron was engaging in financial misrepresentation by altering accounting records to mislead its investors and was engaging in insider trading.
Mr Kenneth Lay, the firm’s founder, was charged with six crimes including conspiracy and fraud but he died of a heart attack before being convicted. Mr Lay’s deceptive success inspired many emerging entrepreneurs who wanted to get rich quickly.
One of them is Mr Geoffrey Kiragu, the founder of Thika-based Lesedi Developers, a real estate company that has left potential land and homeowners vulnerable and with millions of shillings in bank loans to repay after selling non-existent plots in Juja, Kiambu and Nakuru.
“If you are a keen reader, perhaps you know the evolution of Enron Corporation. Its founder Kenneth Lay is one of the people who inspired me to start Lesedi Developers four years back. He may have his flaws but I borrow a lot of business lessons from him,’’ Mr Kiragu told Newszetu early last month in an interview when we reached out to him with claims that he had conned clients of Sh1 billion.
Tens of investors interviewed by Newszetu for this report, and who tabled receipts and legal agreements with Lesedi Developers, said they have been left vulnerable after parting with their hard-earned cash but neither land nor title deed is in their possession. Some investors have been issued with bouncing cheques when they ask for refunds.
Social media marketing
Mr Festus Waigwa Muraya, 38, from Nyeri, told Newszetu that he got to know Lesedi Developers through its aggressive social media marketing last year. It was fronted by famous influencers and through vernacular radio stations.
“I had no grounds to doubt them because the deal looked real and famous people were advertising their projects. I thought they had done due diligence on the company before embarking on influencing their fans to buy the property.
The down payment needed for a 40-by-80 [feet] plot in Muthaara, Juja Constituency, was also affordable because you only needed to pay Sh30,000 and clear the total cost of the land — that was Sh320,000 — within three months,” said Mr Muraya, who has been chasing after the company for a refund since last year.
He added: “Worse still, after completing paying for the land in March last year and visiting the plot that I had been shown and reassessing the land, I noticed that the plot was 30-by-76 and not 40-by-80 as agreed in the contract,’’ he notes.
The title deed that he had been promised would be ready after 90 days has never been made available to him to date. He later found out that someone else had been allocated the same plot.
Buoyed by the same frenzied advertising, Mr Robert Kingori bought plot number 158 in Muthaara in Juja, Kiambu County, from Lesedi Developers in April last year.
It was to measure 40-by-80 but, after completing paying for the land in full, he has neither been issued with a title deed nor the full refund that the company had promised to do for dissatisfied investors, him being among them.
Ms Elizabeth Wanjiku looks pensively at the agreement she entered with Lesedi Developers for a 40-by-80 plot in early April last year. She had paid Sh350, 000 and hoped to settle with her family.
Hopeful that she would be issued with a title deed and start building, she later learnt that the land she was shown was double allocated to another person and was being contested.
“I just want a full refund because even the land that I was shown to be mine by Lesedi Developers is being contested by another person. They have been taking me round in circles. We want the government to intervene because the company continues to advertise the same plots on radio to scam more people,” she said.
Stop paying rent
Ms Fidelis Njeri Thuku is a mother who hoped she would stop paying rent before the end of 2021. She secured a loan to accomplish her ambition of owning a house.
She signed a contract with Lesedi Developers in which the company was to build her a two-bedroom bungalow in Jacaranda Ridge Estate, a residential development in Muthaara in Juja.
She paid Sh1.8 million but the company has never delivered. She was promised a refund, but the company has been writing her bad cheques, all of which have bounced.
“The company has reimbursed zero shillings to me so far. I have had issues repaying my loan and meeting my daily obligations and it’s so sad that the company continues to keep me waiting. I want them to return my money without further delays to enable me to settle elsewhere,” Ms Njeri said.
Mr Anthony Mwaura was driving to work in February last year when he tuned into a vernacular radio station.
Lesedi Developers were on air and had roped in a popular influencer to woo potential investors for its projects in Kiambu and Nakuru.
Taken in by the sales gimmick, Mr Mwaura convinced his wife later that evening that they should invest in the land given that the offer was affordable.
One week later, he bought two plots for Sh1.05 million that were advertised as 40-by-80 but, when he consulted a professional surveyor, he found out that the parcels were 30-by-76.
With no title deed and his money gone, Mr Mwaura joins investors who have lost almost Sh1 billion to Lesedi Developers through non-existent land.
Last week, investors stormed Lesedi Developers offices in Thika, accusing the company of going back on its word to refund them.
This is after police failed to arrest Mr Kiragu even after being reported to the officer in charge of criminal investigations in Thika, Mr Joseph Thuvi.
The detective admitted to Newszetu last week that his office had received numerous complaints about Lesedi Developers, but he remained guarded on the status of investigations.
In December last year, an investor with Lesedi Developers, Mr Ryan Marvin Karanja was awarded Sh1.5 million by the court after he sued the company seeking a full refund as well as the interest and cost of the suit.
This was after the firm breached the contract, they had entered with him for the sale of a piece of land that the company later sold to another client at double the price, yet Mr Karanja had paid for it in full.
Tunza Realtors Limited
Nation understands that Mr Kiragu has already registered another land-selling company — Tunza Realtors Limited — that is selling land in the same area as Lesedi Developers, resulting in double allocations. When Newszetu asked him about the new venture that is aggressively marketing the plots on vernacular radio and television, Mr Kiragu admitted that he owns the new company together with another unnamed director.
He, however, insisted that there was nothing legally wrong with owning two companies.
“The issue between Lesedi Developers and its investors should not be associated with Tunza Realtors, which I co-own with another investor. On the Lesedi issue, we are having challenges with the people who sold land to us but are optimistic the matter will be settled soon. I agree we have sold land almost worth Sh1 billion, and we are sorry for the confusion to the investors. With time, we will deliver,” Mr Kiragu said.
Nation has established that a falling out between Lesedi Developers and its partners, mostly the people the company bought the land from, emerged after the firm failed to keep its part of the bargain.
Under the terms of the deal, Lesedi Developers was to identify a piece of prime land, market it as its own after paying the owner 10 per cent of the total cost of the land but conclude repaying as clients buy the land through Lesedi.
The problem, however, was that interested buyers were paying for the land directly to Lesedi instead of through an escrow account, thereby exposing both the landowner and buyers to risk.
Recently, a developer pulled down the house of an investor in Juja who had completed paying for the plot, but Lesedi Developers had not remitted the money to the landowner.
In Nakuru, where Lesedi is selling land investments, the script is the same with Mr Kiragu saying that the land they bought had issues, leaving the investors at risk of losing millions of shillings in a land deal gone sour.
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