14 Riverside Drive attack terror suspect Sophia Njoki Mbogo who is Diamond Trust Bank manager Eastleigh branch January 24, 2019 at Milimani Law Courts. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO
Sophia Njoki Mbogo, DTB Eastleigh branch manager, pleaded not guilty to three offences.
Ms Mbogo was charged with failure to report suspicious activity regarding proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering, aiding and abetting commission of a terrorism Act, as well as failure to report a suspicious transaction amounting to Sh34.7 million.
In response to the charges, DTB in a statement said it was cooperating with law enforcement agencies and had provided all the information required.
A bank manager suspected of facilitating the financing of the dusitD2 hotel attack which left 21 people dead, via huge M-Pesa transactions, was Wednesday charged in court.
Sophia Njoki Mbogo, a DTB #ticker:DTK Eastleigh branch manager, appeared before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi and pleaded not guilty to three offences.
Ms Mbogo was charged with failure to report suspicious activity regarding proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering, aiding and abetting commission of a terrorism Act, as well as failure to report a suspicious transaction amounting to Sh34.7 million.
“Being the branch manager, she knowingly failed to report a suspicious activity involving transactions carried out at the said bank and branch to wit Sh34,736,550,” the court heard.
The prosecution also told the court that the accused committed the said offenses between December 4, 2018 and January 5 at her place of work.
In response to the charges, DTB in a statement said it was cooperating with law enforcement agencies and had provided all the information required.
"We remain committed in our unwavering support to the government in its efforts to fight terrorism, money laundering and eradicating corruption," the lender said.
According to the prosecution, she failed to stop transactions of the said monies yet the required withdrawal was not supposed to exceed Sh100,000 as per the proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering Act.
She is also accused of committing the said offenses jointly with others who were not in court.
Ms Mbogo was arrested on January 24 and has remained in police detention for 30 days alongside seven other terror suspects.
She had said that the bank does not have any accounts with any known terror suspects but the police accused her of allowing huge sums of money to be cashed within a very short period of time with no evidence required. Ms Mbogo had also claimed to be a bystander during investigations into perpetrators of the terror attack.
She had shifted blame to Safaricom while claiming that the company is mandated to verify the authenticity of its registered M-Pesa agents.
Police had previously told the court that one of the suspects, Hassan Abdi Nur, operated an M-Pesa business in which he allegedly registered 47 accounts in October last year out of a total of 52 in the last three months of 2018.
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