Edward Kamau Gituku Arrest over trafficking Kenyans to Russia

Trusted sources revealed that he is linked with Global Face Agencies, which authorities suspect is responsible for luring unsuspecting, desperate job seekers into non-existent jobs in Moscow Some people were reported to have been turned into conscripts and forced to help the Russian forces in fighting Ukraine 
Investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) raided an apartment in Athi River, Machakos County, where tens of job seekers had been confined awaiting further instructions.

 They said they had gathered evidence showing that desperate job seekers were being tricked into paying between KSh1.65 million and KSh2.31 million for visas, travel, accommodation, and logistics, with assurances of a monthly salary. Those unable to pay or struggling to raise the full payment within 35 days were slapped with a 1% daily penalty. On Wednesday, September 24, detectives from the DCI’s Transnational Organised Crime Unit raided Great Wall Apartments in Athi River, Machakos county, where 21 Kenyans were locked inside a house as they awaited processing for travel to Russia. 

During the operation, officers arrested Edward Kamau Gituku, believed to be coordinating the recruitment and travel arrangements. Investigators said the victims were scheduled to travel on different dates between September and October. Recovered during the raid were travel documents, cheque books, job offer letters from multiple countries, and an agreement suggesting a formalised recruitment structure. 

One of the documents pointed to a one-year partnership between Global Face Human Resource Ltd and Ecopillars Manpower Ltd, signed to recruit, screen, and deploy Kenyans to Russia. However, speaking a day after his arraignment, Gituku, through his lawyers Cliff Ombeta and Danstan Omari, said he runs an honest enterprise. Gituku sought to quash the assertion by the DCI that he is operating a racket conning unsuspecting civilians with fake job offers in Russia, only to end up as conscripts. "It is not true that the people who were arrested or who were reported to be rescued were minors. His company has a contract with the Russian military forces, an equivalent of KDF," Omari said. 

The lawyer added that Gituku had been procedurally contracted to recruit officers formally attached to the Kenyan Defence Forces. "They have a contract to recruit ex-military officers from Kenya. They have a contract validly signed by the government of Russia to recruit ex-military officers who have exited the Kenyan military and they have been discharged and given a certificate that they have been cleared by the KDF. They have no liability, they have no pending issue, they have been given a green card," added the lawyer.