Police Pounce On Pastor Who Conned Church Ksh2 Million
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the pastor was entrusted with delivering 410 seats to the church
Marvin Chege 
Police officers based in Kirinyaga County on Monday, May 29, arrested a pastor alleged to have swindled a local Anglican church over Ksh2 million.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) revealed that the pastor was entrusted with delivering 410 seats to the church after being contracted through a tender awarded on February 9.
The pastor was expected to work with his wife in the delivery of the seats to the church before April 10 but he neither completed the task nor did he turn up at the church.
Screengrab of the pastor who was arrested by police on May 29, 2023. /DCI
"Police, have arrested a clergyman suspected to have swindled the ACK Mwea Town Church, with over Ksh2 million, meant for the procurement of church seats.
"On February 9, 2023, the church leadership contracted Apostle Blessed Gilbert Kariuki and his spouse to deliver 410 seats to the church on or before April 10, 2023, but the 'Man of God' neither delivered nor showed up," stated the DCI in part.
It was further reported that the man of God had vanished after conning the church of the said amount, which prompted the church's faithful to raise the matter with the police.
This is after attempts to reach out to the clergyman bore no fruit, leading to further action being taken by police who moved to arrest him.
"As reported by the church faithful at Wang’uru Police station, the man of the cloth swindled them their money before disappearing. Efforts to reach him turned futile, prompting the church vicar to file the report.
"Police immediately swung into action and successfully apprehended the suspect," added the DCI.
On May 29, Kariuki was arraigned at Wanguru law courts, where he answered to charges of obtaining money by false pretences.
Notably, the DCI did not issue an update regarding whether or not the pastor's wife was being pursued over the incident.
The police warned members of the public regarding the increase in cases of fraud and tenders targeting the church and other places of worship, with churches urged to exercise caution when dealing with businesspeople masquerading as people of cloth.
