Kenyan industrialist Vimal Shah, scorched by forex fraud, fights to recover hundreds of millions of shillings

When Bidco Africa chief executive Vimal Shah walked into a Nairobi courtroom last Monday, he was not there to discuss cooking oil, detergents or the manufacturing business that has made him one of Kenya’s most prominent industrialists.

Instead, he was there to recount how a longstanding relationship with a fellow businessman led him into a foreign currency transaction that left him fighting to recover more than Sh102 million.