Embattled Nairobi motor vehicle entrepreneur Joseph Kairo Wambui, alias Khalif Kairo is appealing to Kenyans for help after revealing that his account worth millions of shillings has been closed, exacerbating his woes.
In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, January 29 via his social media accounts, Kairo announced that his WeFunder campaign account, which held over Ksh12.93 million (USD100,000), was closed the previous night.
Kairo confirmed that he was rearrested moments after leaving Milimani Law Courts where he was attending a session and held in Parklands police station overnight on another matter.
He sensationally blamed media coverage of his case and police involvement for frustrating his efforts to resolve the matter. According to the car dealer, the ongoing cases have negatively impacted his brand and led to the closure of his offices.
“We have tried everything in our ability to try resolve this issues amicably, ensure we do deliveries but the negative media publicity and constant police involvement is putting us in deeper waters and severely affecting our ability to operate. All our offices are currently closed. I am currently in Milimani law courts and will be presented for plea-taking shortly,” he stated in part.
Kairo, who has faced numerous court battles over failed business deals related to car sales, spent much of the final days of last year and the early part of this year defending himself in court.
However, he maintains that the mounting court cases stem from unrelated financial issues and continues to assert his innocence against the accusations.
“I have had an impressive ten-year run in business with zero criminal cases pertaining cars and thousands of people have successfully bought cars from me. Due to these legal issues, our WeFunder campaign was shut down last night after crossing the USD 100,000 mark,” he added.
The car dealer opened the WeFunder campaign account on Monday this week, and it was approximately 24 hours old when it was closed. However, our independent cross-checks could not verify the claims of his closure owing to privacy laws regarding financial account details.
Kairo thus appealed to Kenyans, including his clients, associates, and friends, to come through for him.
“All is not lost however, I am directly appealing to my supporters, friends, old clients and associates to chip in whatever amount they can and give us a fighting chance against the unknown forces that are sabotaging my company,” he added, providing a means of contribution on his post.
“This is not an investment but a donation. Once the dust settles, we will issue a statement and audit trail of how we will utilize the funds raised in rescuing our company.”
On Tuesday, January 28, Kairo appeared before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina for the mention of one of his numerous fraud cases and had left the courtroom at Milimani Law Courts when detectives intercepted him.
The re-arrest came as police indicated they were investigating claims related to his car business. He was reportedly placed in a police vehicle, and driven to an undisclosed location. Officials said he was taken to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters along Kiambu Road for questioning.
While the exact reason for his rearrest was not immediately clear, it is alleged that it was linked to complaints about his alleged failure to honour agreements with clients.
The ‘boastful’ car dealer is known for his attention-grabbing online car sales marketing stunts, which earned him a large following. He is set to appear in court today.
By ViralTea