Macdonald Bongwe Mochama, who worked as a transaction monitoring officer, was among four KCB employees who were arrested last Friday in connection with the theft of Sh72.6 million.
The suspects face two charges of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to Section 393 of the Penal Code and stealing by servant contrary to Section 281 of the law.
On the first count, it was alleged that Mr Mochama — together with others not before the court — conspired to steal Sh72.6 million between January 12, 2017 and June 2, 2017, which was property of KCB.
A Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) #ticker:KCB staffer was Monday charged with stealing millions of shillings as lenders grapple with increasing cases of fraud by employees.
Macdonald Bongwe Mochama, who worked as a transaction monitoring officer, was among four KCB employees who were arrested last Friday in connection with the theft of Sh72.6 million.
The suspects face two charges of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to Section 393 of the Penal Code and stealing by servant contrary to Section 281 of the law. On the first count, it was alleged that Mr Mochama — together with others not before the court — conspired to steal Sh72.6 million between January 12, 2017 and June 2, 2017, which was property of KCB. The other count is that during the same period, the suspects stole the money which came into their possession by virtue of their employment.
Mr Mochama pleaded not guilty but the prosecution requested that his bond application be determined by another court where he is facing different charges. He had been arrested together with Benson Mwai Karugu, Edmund Kirturi Mutua and Evans Kenda Kiplagat.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) which made the arrests, the four transferred the money in small amounts to accounts domiciled with various banks in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret and Malindi.
Evidence gathered by the DCI indicates that 37 fictitious merchant companies were registered with KCB to facilitate the theft through fraudulent point of sale card (POS) transaction.
It is alleged that the claims were approved by the four suspects and money sent to the companies’ accounts as POS card settlements.
The DCI further reports that he four suspects shared the funds through M-Pesa.
The case is the latest in a string of fraudulent schemes targeting banks in recent months. Others charged for similar offences include Peter Sungu Nyakomitta, a branch manager with Diamond Trust Bank in Kisii, after an internal reconciliation process showed that Sh25 million had been stolen. Another case involves Abel Onyango, a relations officer with Family Bank, who is alleged to have accessed customers’ accounts through SIM swaps and withdrew Sh1.5 million.
Saccos haven’t been spared the fraud with Habil Onyango, a Fosa manager and strong-room custodian at Harambee Sacco, arrested recently for removing from the vault in small amounts cash totalling to Sh1,783,392 for personal use.
Last week, Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti raised concern over banks and Sacco fraud arguing that most were inside jobs.
He advised the lenders to thoroughly vet current and potential employees in order to stem such crimes.
