Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga has request an arrest warrant for Equity Bank manager David Machiri Kimani, who links to the theft of KSh1.5 billion.
Prosecutors told Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo that Mr. Kimani fled after police released him on bond. They revealed that Mr. Kimani, who managed the bank’s processing center, took part in the theft involving 47 transactions.
The bank’s internal control team uncovered through preliminary investigations that someone used Mr. Kimani’s credentials to carry out the transactions. The prosecution urged the court to issue an arrest warrant, claiming that KSh1.5 billion was stolen using his credentials.
Police uncovered the theft when they requested a 21-day detention for Mr. Kimani to conduct further questioning. The Central Bank of Kenya’s Banking Fraud Investigation Unit (BFIU) had already secured a 21-day detention order. Investigations showed that the thieves transferred the stolen funds to various bank accounts.
The DPP informed the court that the thieves registered these accounts to new businesses created specifically to receive the stolen funds. Inspector Bonface Maina, the investigating officer, confirmed that they are pursuing charges of money laundering and theft.
Equity Bank reported the crime in a letter signed by Kevin Mwangi, the head of security. The letter indicated that the transactions lacked credits from the source entities, raising suspicion.
However, the defense, led by Njiru Ndegwa, asked the court to compel the DPP and the police to produce Mr. Kimani. They claimed that authorities unlawfully arrested him and held him incommunicado. They also alleged that the police unlawfully detained Mr. Kimani’s father to coerce information about his son’s whereabouts.
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