Co-op Bank sues security firm G4S over 2010 robbery
A police officer dusts an abandoned G4S vehicle for evidence. The cash-in-transit was stolen. FILE
What you need to know:
Co-operative Bank says G4S was negligent leading to loss of the Sh80m.
The cash was meant to replenish Automated Teller Machines (ATM).
Co-operative Bank of Kenya has sued G4S Security Services (Kenya) Limited over Sh80 million stolen from its Nairobi branch three years ago.
The bank filed the suit at Nairobi Commercial Court on Monday claiming negligence of the security firm, leading to loss of the cash-in-transit in October 2010.
The heist hit headlines and employees of the bank, G4S workers and Administration Police officers were charged.
The bank is seeking orders compelling the security company to pay the cash with 24 per cent interest from October 2010, pushing the total demand to Sh133 million so far. The cash was meant to replenish Automated Teller Machines (ATM).
“The plaintiff prays for judgment against the defendant for the said sum of Sh80 million and interest at 24 per cent per annum until payment in full,” says Co-op Bank.
“The plaintiff will rely on the criminal proceedings going on, as at the time of filing this suit, at the chief magistrate’s court Kibera, Nairobi,” says Coop Bank. The criminal proceeding against the suspects is ongoing at the Kibera magistrate’s court.
The judge said the security firm, then trading as Securicor Security Services, was negligent and in breach of its contract with the State-owned bank.
The money was lost after a Securicor van transporting the money from the bank’s Maua branch in Meru to its Koinange branch in Nairobi was allegedly hijacked.
Co-op Bank in the papers filed in court, alleges that G4S has failed to pay the stolen cash despite the bank issuing a number of demand notices.
The bank claims that G4S is liable for the loss since it failed to adequately supervise its employees who conspired with other individuals to steal the Sh80 million.
Coop Bank alleges that as per the agreement, the cash for ATMs was to be collected by G4S once a week, but the security firm went for the money twice in the week when the theft was reported. The bank says this was negligence and in breach of contract.
The bank further says the security firm failed to create a secure operation system that could have been easily detected.
The thugs walked into Co-op at around 2 pm and posed as G4S crew complete with uniforms similar to those of the security firm and were escorted by persons carrying rifles and dressed in administration police uniform.
They collected the cash and left undetected abandoning their escape vehicle later at Nairobi’s Upper Hill. The bank found out that the money had been stolen when genuine G4S personnel arrived hours later to collect the cash as planned.
G4S distanced itself from the theft, claiming that people posing as its employees executed the robbery.
The police arrested six managers over the theft including four Co-operative Bank staff and two from G4S security firm along with other suspects like taxi drivers and Administration Police officers.
The police said investigations pointed at a well-planned inside job.
Police recovered about Sh11.75 million later, which was believed to be part of the Sh80 million stolen.
The Co-op Bank case comes at a moment when Kenyan banks are reeling from a rise in white-collar crime.
Data from the Banking Fraud Investigations Department (BFID) indicate that financial institutions reported Sh1.5 billion was stolen from customers’ accounts in the year to April.
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