Churchgoers in Eldoret are counting millions of losses after investing their savings in an investment scam that was being operated by their pastor.
The churchgoers at the Rofam Centre Christian Church say that they took Sacco loans and dug out millions of their savings to invest in their pastor Seko Silas’ De la Vie Consult Company.
Apparently, they had been promised heavy returns that were as high as 30 per cent of their invested money every month. A number of those who have been scammed were to ashamed to show their faces in front of the media when they came out to speak.
They narrated that in the first few months after investing with the pastor, they got paid, and this attracted even more people to give the pastor their monies. However, the payments stopped after a few months.
One of the victims, said that he was introduced to the pastor by his sister-in-law. He took a loan and invested after he was given assurance by his sister-in-law that he would recoup the investment within months. He gave the pastor Sh. 4.6 million.
Another victim who covered their face narrated together with his wife and relatives, they had lost over Sh. 3 million in the scam.
Ebby Atem is another victim. She says that she asked her mother to give her their family title deed with which she used to secure a loan for investment with the pastor. She adds that she also took her brother-in-law’s title deed as security for her second loan.
“I don’t know what I will do in my life to recover this money. It’s very painful. I don’t sleep. I don’t know how I will repay these debts,” she says. She added that she had brought together her fellow women and they had together invested Sh. 1.8 million in Seko’s company.
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Their pastor Seko sent several emails saying that the consultancy was facing financial challenges and that payments would be made once the challenges he is facing are sorted.
The victims said that they have reported their grievances to the police but complained that little is being done to bring the pastor to justice.
