A Magistrate court will rule on Tuesday on whether to detain Kenya’s Foreign and Diaspora CS Musalia Mudavadi’s Director of Press, Salim Swaleh, and five others for 14 days to allow police to conclude their investigation into an extortion scheme.

The six will spend the night at Capitol Hill Police Station in Nairobi awaiting the ruling tomorrow.

The suspects, including Swaleh, Otieno Japolo Michael, Terry Kemunto Sese, Daniel Omondi Gogo, John Musundi Wabomba, and James William Mokohawho, were arrested on Sunday. They are accused of obtaining money by false pretenses and abusing their positions.

Inspector Nicholas Njoroge, who filed the application, stated that the complainants are foreigners from Dubai and South Africa who were allegedly lured to Kenya with the promise of securing a tender to construct two stadiums for the AFCON 2027 games.

The court heard that the complainants were defrauded of over 5 million shillings as a registration fee before securing the tender

The detective informed the court that the complainants were misled to believe that after a meeting at the Prime Cabinet Secretary’s office, they would meet government officials from the ministries of sports, interior, and youth affairs, as well as two senators from the budget and sports committees, to secure the stadium construction tender.

It is also alleged that Swaleh facilitated a meeting between the other suspects and the foreigners in his office, where the primary suspect falsely claimed to be the chairman of the Government Delivery Unit and offered to expedite the tendering process.

The detective argued that more time is needed to gather statements and verify company registration details from relevant offices in the UAE. He also contended that the suspects might interfere with the investigation if released, given the case’s complexity due to the involvement of foreign nationals.