Josiah Kariuki Released on Bail in Sh209 Million Counterfeit Fertilizer Scam

A businessman accused of selling counterfeit fertilizers worth Sh209 million to Kenyans has been released on Sh2 million cash bail.

Principal Magistrate Celesa Okore granted bail to Josiah Kariuki on Tuesday after considering arguments from both the prosecution and the defense. Alternatively, he was granted a bond of Sh5 million. Additionally, the court ordered him to surrender his passport and cautioned him against interfering with witnesses.

The case is scheduled for mention on May 20.

Kariuki, who is said to be the director of Fifty One Capital Limited and SBL Innovate Manufacturers Limited, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges.

In the first count, he is accused, along with others not before the court, of defrauding Kenyan farmers by selling 139,688 bags of soil amendment and conditioner, each weighing 25 kgs, valued at Sh209,532,000, while falsely claiming it to be genuine fertilizer. The alleged offense took place on March 31, 2022, at the Kenya National Cereals and Produce Board Headquarters in Nairobi County.

In another count, Kariuki is accused, on January 12, 2023, at an undisclosed location within the country, of forging an agreement purporting it to be a genuine agreement signed between SBL Innovate Manufacturers Ltd and African Diatomite Industries Limited.

He is further charged with fraudulently making a Kenya Bureau of Standards Permit to use standardization mark number 14617 in the name of 51 Capital and African Diatomite Industries K Limited.

The court heard that on January 18, 2023, at the KEBS offices in Nakuru Township, Nakuru County, he knowingly and fraudulently presented a forged agreement between African Diatomite Industries Limited and SBL Innovate Manufacturers.

Kariuki was also accused, along with companies 51 Capital Limited and SBL Innovate Manufacturers Limited, of applying a standardization mark for the manufacture of organic fertilizer on goods that failed to meet the requirements of KS 2290:2018 Organic Fertilizer-Specifications, between January 28, 2023, and March 8, 2024, at an undisclosed location in Kenya.

In the same case, three NCPB officials have denied the charges and are out on Sh1 million cash bail. The officers are Joseph Muna Kamote, John Kiplangat, and John Mbaya.