Kenyan and Spanish officials are scratching their heads as they attempt to identify fraudsters who infiltrated a company’s system and ordered gelatin bovine hides valued at €147,000 (Sh19.5 million). The goods were later shipped to Mombasa.

A court has ruled that the items were obtained illegally and ordered they be returned to Spain.

The fraud started when Junca Gelatines SL received an order for the supply of the items from Hilton Ingredients (U) Ltd, a company that purports to be based in Kampala, Uganda.

The order was received on September 23, 2020. The Spanish firm was described as the seller and Hilton Food Group PLC the buyer.

The goods were to be shipped by Junca to Hilton Ingredients (U) Ltd.

Junca Gelatines in Banyoles, Spain, produces and distributes food ingredients. It also offers gelatine and hydrolysates for food and pharmaceutical industries.

Hilton Food Group

Officials of the Spanish company said they believed the request was from Hilton Food Group PLC of Cambridgeshire, UK, an international food packaging company.

What followed was correspondence by email between the “employees” of the two firms.

The Spanish company then obtained a credit approval from the UK firm on October 8, 2020 and issued an invoice for the consignment.

A packing list was prepared and a bill of lading issued in the name of Hilton Ingredients (U) Ltd for container BEAU5202017, with the goods.

On November 4, 2020, the Spanish firm delivered the consignment to Evergreen Shipping Line and released the bill of lading and other documents.

The consignment arrived in Mombasa on December 22.

The UK firm got wind of the transactions and informed Junca Gelatines that it had not placed the order.

Junca Gelatines worker Magda Drozd then sent an e-mail to Neil George of Hilton Food Group Plc informing him that Hilton Ingredients (U) Ltd was using the latter’s name to perpetrate fraud.

George then sought a written declaration that the purchase order Junca Gelatines received was not from Hilton Food Group Plc.

Ms Drozd said Junca Gelatines became aware of the matter in early October and immediately ensured the domain name was suspended.

A statement by Junca Gelatines MD Ferran Junca Riuro in Girona, Spain, indicated that as he spoke to an imam who provides Halal certificates to their company three days to September 29, the religious leader warned him of fraud involving another maker of gelatin.

“It is apparent that had it not been for the caution from the imam, the consignment would have landed into the waiting hands of faceless fraudsters,” documents from Spanish and UK companies say