More than 50,000 Kenyans poured their savings into Ekeza Sacco, the name Bishop David Kariuki Ngari alias Gakuyo became synonymous with betrayal.
Between 2015 and 2018, according to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and audit reports tabled in court, more than Sh1.05 billion was moved from the Sacco to Gakuyo Real Estate and related entities linked to its founder, despite the founder making no personal contribution to the Sacco.
It was in the wake of that collapse that the name Jimmi Kagoni first entered the public domain.
Kagoni, variously referred to in official records as Jimmy Kagoni and James Benson Kagoni, was appointed by the Ministry of Co-operatives as the acting CEO and government-backed turnaround manager of Ekeza Sacco.
His mandate, as he told journalists at the time, was singular: help members recoup their funds and draft a recovery strategy that would allow the Sacco to resume operations.
Under that plan, Ekeza and Gakuyo Real Estate reached an out-of-court settlement in October 2019 after Gakuyo had been charged with fraud.
The deal saw Gakuyo forfeit properties worth Sh881 million to be subdivided and sold to members, in addition to cash refunds.
Kagoni announced at the time that members would receive Sh750 million in a mix of cash and land, leaving a balance of about Sh250 million to be cleared.
“We haven’t exhausted the land in Kilimambogo, Mavoko, Joska, Subukia and Nyahururu… once we give them their 50 by 100 whatever they want to do with it, if it’s selling or developing that is for them to decide,” Kagoni told reporters in 2020.
By November 2020, Ekeza said over 4,000 customers with shares worth less than Sh50,000 had been refunded, starting with those owed Sh5,000 and below.
But six years after that settlement, the Ekeza case is back in court.
Last week, DCI detectives sought orders to detain Bishop Gakuyo at Muthaiga Police Station for four days to conclude investigations into conspiracy to commit a felony, obtaining money by false pretences, stealing and money laundering relating to the same Sh1.1 billion.
On Monday, he was charged before Principal Magistrate Benmark Ekhubi with conspiracy and 12 counts of obtaining money by false pretence for Sh1,052,746,094 and released on Sh10 million cash bail or Sh20 million bond.
The renewed prosecution has also revived scrutiny on the recovery process itself, and on the man who was supposed to clean it up.
This time, Kagoni is not appearing as a saviour, but as a complainant — and as the director of a company called Promitto Limited.
According to filings before the Capital Markets Tribunal, Promitto Limited through its director James Benson Kagoni avers that it held meetings with two licensed market players — Trade Sense Limited and Amana Capital Limited — and subsequently invested Sh62,000,000 and USD 122,710 into an investment product created in partnership between the two firms.
Promitto says the firms presented themselves as entities possessing the necessary statutory capacity, professional skills and expertise, and promised to invest the funds in portfolios that would yield 20% per month.
An engagement letter dated 23rd October 2023 was issued, and deposits were made between October 2023 and May 2024.
In a Notice of Motion dated 23rd September 2024, Promitto Limited asked the Tribunal to order the Capital Markets Authority to show cause why it had failed to investigate Trade Sense and Amana Capital, and in the alternative, to direct the Authority to investigate their conduct and suspend their licences forthwith.
The Tribunal ruling of 6 March 2025 (Appeal E004 of 2024) records the application but does not make a finding of fraud against the respondents.
The case highlights a pattern that investigators warn is common in Nairobi’s unregulated investment space: high monthly return promises of 15% to 20%, minimum investments of Sh50,000, six-month lock-ins, and eventual collapse.
It is a pattern Ekeza members know too well. The Sacco had promised members they could get loans three times their savings and earn 2% interest on Gakuyo Investment Club business, claims prosecutors now say were false pretences used to obtain money from welfare groups and individuals, including Sh553,050 from Step by Step Welfare Association and Sh1.2 million from businessman Edward Nduati.
For victims, the question now is one of conflict and accountability.
How did a government-appointed recovery CEO come to be a director of a company that itself claims to have lost over Sh75 million in a high-yield product?
Kagoni has not been charged with fraud in relation to Ekeza.
In his own statements, his role was limited to implementing the recovery strategy agreed upon by concerned parties.
But members who are yet to receive their parcels in Joska, Konza, Mariakani and Subukia-Solai — the eight properties Gakuyo said he had provided to Ekeza to “perfect, subdivide and sell to their members and the general public” — are now asking the DCI’s Serious Crimes Unit and the Commissioner of Co-operatives to audit the recovery itself.
Business Daily reported on October 1, Gakuyo’s own Nyari Estate property — a five-bedroom townhouse, a three-bedroom maisonette, a pool house and staff quarters — is now set for auction as the Sh1bn fraud trial drags on, a symbol of how long the recovery has taken.
For Ekeza’s 50,000-plus members, the promise of a 50×100 plot has yet to translate into closure. And for the capital markets, Promitto Limited’s case is a test of whether the CMA can act fast enough when even experienced investment bankers claim to be duped.
