'City pastor' accused of defrauding 4,000 people in Ksh.600M job scam denies allegations, vows to avail himself to DCI

James Wanjohi, a businessman identified as a city pastor has come out to deny allegations that he obtained Ksh.600 million after defrauding 4,000 Kenyans while promising them Visas to travel abroad.

Police in Nairobi raided Worthstart Africa offices in Pension towers on April 24 after victims recorded statements on how they were conned lots of money by the company's director Wanjohi.

In a video seen by Citizen Digital, Wanjohi scoffed at the accusations arguing that he is a victim of a political witchhunt instigated by his nemesis.

He believes that there has been bad blood between him and some individuals since he contested for the Roysambu parliamentary seat in the 2022 General Election.

"I know this is political witchhunt and business rivalry and I know I have rattled some businessmen and women who feel that they should cut my legs as of now so that I stop progressing," he said.

"I am aware that there are some politicians who are not sleeping because they are scared of me."

Wanjohi further clarified that he is no longer a preacher at the Jesus Culture Ministry, noting that he branched out to start his company which has been operational for barely a year.

He argued that it is not practical to process 4,000 clients since setting up shop adding that his rivals are set out to tarnish his company's reputation.

"I seized being the pastor of Jesus Culture Ministries in 2022 and if the section of the media continues to insist that I am a pastor I would like them to go interview my church members. Let them show the public an interview of my church going on. There is no such church. My work is to build churches as I hand them over," he said.

"I did not process 4,000 clients which is even barely a year my goodness. We will be celebrating our one-year anniversary next month May 17th as a company."

Wanjohi also intimated that Worthstart Company is only involved in Visa facilitation and the decision to approve an application solely lies with the Embassy.

He even claimed that he has proof of individuals who acquired their Visas through his company and have already travelled to the United States and Canada.

"I have a contract with every client that comes to Worthstart and my work ends when I hand them over to the Embassy because beyond that I have no other power. I cannot be in a position to propel the embassy to issue or deny Visas," noted Wanjohi.

"When my clients are denied Visas I do a second application for free. I want to ask if you have a case in court and you fail does it mean you will not pay the lawyer? If you go to the hospital and you don't get well does it mean you will not pay the doctor?"

He adds that his company only makes "less than Ksh.5,000 as profit" and he has lost most of his staff members after the accusations were made public.

The businessman says that he had not been made privy to the allegations since he had travelled outside the country and was only notified when he switched on his Kenyan sim card.

He has vowed to avail himself to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to aid in investigations and clear his name.

"I had travelled out of Nairobi and I was using a national foreign sim card. Switching on my Kenyan sim card I see messages flooding my phone that DCI is looking for me," he said.

"Immediately I land in Nairobi I will be heading to the DCI to record statements and help the DCI."

During the April 24 raid at his offices, victims said that once they made payments, they were promised they would get the jobs and travel out of the country in three months, but the agency kept ignoring their calls and inquiries.

Police said that the over 4,000 job seekers each paid a fee ranging from Ksh.100,000 to Ksh.140,000 Worthstart Africa as agency fees for the processing of their overseas job application and visa processing fees.

"The other thing is that we have over 200 applicants hakuna yule ashawahi pata visa, kwani kila mtu ana fail kweli?" a victim told Citizen TV.