A Swedish businessman stood in the dock of a Milimani courtroom this week and described how the promise of a multi-billion-shilling government contract had left him unable to sleep more than three hours a night. Talal Yousef Yousef Zaitoun, representing the Stockholm-based firm Jokara AB, told Senior Principal Magistrate Theresa Nyangena that the elaborate con, staged inside Harambee House itself, had taken nearly half a million dollars from him and his brother.
The approach began on 10 January 2026. Zaitoun received an unsolicited WhatsApp message from a man identifying himself as Stanley Ndawula.
The message quickly led him to Geoffrey Were Odondi, who presented himself as a consultant with direct lines into government ministries. Within days the pair were offering what they claimed was a secured tender to supply 500 Toyota Hiace High Roof ambulances to the Kenyan government, a contract they valued at more than USD 36 million, roughly KSh 4.6 billion.
On arrival he was collected at the airport and driven straight to Harambee House, the high-security complex that houses the Office of the President and the Ministry of Interior. A female accomplice, later identified as Purity Njeri, helped the visitors past security checkpoints.
