A US citizen is urging Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to file charges against Abdullahi Hussein, a branch manager at Eastleigh-based Taaj Money Transfer, for allegedly defrauding her of $213,000 (KSh 29 million).
Rahma Abdullahi Adam, an American citizen of Somali origin and a mother of four, claims Hussein misappropriated the funds after persuading her that he could help her purchase an apartment in Kenya. Adam, who owns a daycare center in New York, said her father introduced her to Hussein, a senior manager at the money transfer firm.
Speaking to journalists alongside her lawyer Danstan Omari, Adam explained that she wired the money to secure a home for her children in the United States. In a formal complaint to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), she explained that she initially conducted successful transactions with Hussein in 2023.
However, she later authorized her father to meet him and collect the $213,000 on her behalf.
Rather than releasing the money, Hussein allegedly proposed an alternative investment deal in May last year. He offered her a stake in the Taaj Eastleigh branch. Rahma rejected the deal and insisted that her father proceed with retrieving the money.
Hussein initially agreed to return the funds before traveling to India for his mother’s medical treatment. However, when he met Rahma’s father, he claimed he had no money and alleged that the funds had been lost in Taaj’s system.
Further investigations revealed that the money had reportedly been used to settle debts owed to other Taaj customers.
Taaj Money Transfer Offices Shut Down
Determined to recover her funds, Rahma traveled to Kenya on December 31, 2024, to follow up with the investment firm. Upon arrival, she discovered that its offices had been shut down and that Hussein had allegedly been dismissed from his position.
She then reported the matter to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Kilimani. Authorities arrested Hussein and presented him at the Kibera Law Courts for a miscellaneous application. Although he was arraigned, he was not formally charged and was released on a cash bail of KSh 100,000.
Efforts to resolve the matter through community elders have been unsuccessful. Rahma claims that Hussein’s surety dismissed her attempts at seeking justice. She also stated that her attempts to reach Taaj’s CEO have been ignored, with the executive denying any involvement in the case.
Rahma expressed frustration over the financial and emotional burden the case has placed on her. She has had to extend her stay in Nairobi, missing work and time with her children in New York.
“Given our client’s strong belief in the rule of law and her hope to recover her hard-earned money, we request that you consider her plight and ensure the suspect is charged accordingly. We kindly but urgently seek your intervention in this matter,” Omari wrote in his letter to the DPP.
Rahma now awaits the DPP’s decision on whether Hussein will face formal charges.
“What Taaj and the suspect Abdi have done to me, is not something that any human being would like to go through. I am seeking justice hoping that Abdi and that company will face the full force of the law,” she said.
