Four KCB employees nabbed for stealing Sh72m as staff fraud hits banks
By HILARY KIMUYUFour Kenya Commercial Bank employees will on Monday be arraigned in court after they were arrested for transferring Sh72.6 million to various banks.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Monday said the four, who were arrested on Thursday, transferred the money in smaller amounts to accounts domiciled with various banks in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret and Malindi.
Four suspects were #arrested on 17th August & will be #charged today for an alleged stealing amounting to Ksh.72,619,951.83 which was transferred from the Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd in smaller amounts to accounts domiciled with various banks in Nairobi,Mombasa,Eldoret & Malindi.
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) August 20, 2018
The four are Mr Benson Mwai Karugu, Mr Edmund Kirturi Mutua, Mr Evans Kenda Kiplagat and Mr Macdonald Mochama Mongwe.
According to the DCI, they transferred the money to 37 fictitious merchant companies which were registered with KCB.
This was to facilitate the fraud through fraudulent point of sale card transaction, claims which were approved by the four suspects and money sent to the companies’ account as POS card settlements.
The four suspects then shared the money through M-Pesa.
RELATED STORY: Three bank employee arrested for stealing Sh28m from customer’s account
The latest arrests just days after bank manager was arrested and charged in court with stealing Sh25 million from a customer’s fixed accounts.
The suspect, Peter Sungu, who worked for Diamond Trust Bank Kisii branch, is among three bank employees facing charges of theft of customers’ cash.
Following these incidents, DCI boss George Kinoti has notified locals banks, mobile money service providers and regulators that many cases of fraud are by their employees.
Kinoti has further advised the money lending institutions to do thorough background checks before prospective employees in any way.