Eight men linked to the Fuliza fraud scheme were on Monday charged with stealing over Sh449 million from NCBA bank.
Peter Gitahi Wambui, Isaac Kipkemoi, Gideon Rono, Moses Rono, Collins Kipyegon, Maxwell Njamba, Edwin Kipkorir and Gideon Kirui were charged with 13 counts among them conspiracy to commit a felony namely theft, having proceeds of crime namely motor vehicles.
In the first count, the suspects are accused that between January 1, 2022, and July 4, 2022, at an unknown place, they jointly conspired to commit a felony namely stealing Sh449,647,200 the property of NCBA.
They denied the charges before Milimani chief magistrate Susan Shitubi and pleaded for lenient bond terms.
The magistrate will rule on their bond on Wednesday.
The eight have been remanded at Industrial Area pending a bond ruling on February 15.
Last week, Milimani senior principal magistrate Robison Ondieki had ordered the suspects to remain in police custody until today (Monday) but the prosecution closed the investigation file and filed a charge sheet for plea taking.
The suspects, through lawyers Felix Kiprono and Ham Lagat, had opposed the application by the police to continue detaining them for seven days, awaiting the completion of investigations.
The lawyers submitted that the police did not reveal the offence against the suspect as required by the law.
Kiprono told the court that since the application by the police failed to meet the constitutional threshold, there were compelling reasons for the release of the suspects on bail pending completion of the probe.
He told the court that some of the suspects were students and others in teaching practice and they have fixed homes, which were known to the police.
Kiprono said the police have not adduced compelling reasons to hold the suspects for more days.
The lawyers said it was only disclosed to the court that the investigating officers have only recovered 3000 Safaricom sim cards, 10 laptops and motor vehicles, among other items.
The accused persons were arrested in Nakuru and Kitale on February 8 and the DCI wanted to hold the suspects to enable his officers to complete the investigation over Fuliza fraud.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects fraudulently obtained money from Fuliza, with no intentions of repaying.
The court heard that the complaint in the matter is Noah Cheptumo, the head of security and investigations at NCBA bank
The investigating officer Corporal Knocker Nyasinga, who is attached to the Banking Fraud Investigation unit, said Cheptumo requested them to carry investigations into fraudulent transactions perpetrated through their digital borrowing scheme, known as Fuliza leaving an exposure of Sh449,647,200.
The investigating officer claims that over 123,000 mobile phone subscribers opted into Fuliza and took up the loans between January and July 2022.
The SIM cards were, thereafter fraudulently vacated or switched off and efforts to reach out to the customers were unsuccessful.
The funds were transferred from the registered sim cards to various accounts and mobile banking platforms.
“This is a clear case of fraud wherein respondents hatched a meticulous plan of acquiring several sim cards, opening many bank accounts and applied for fuliza loans with intention of not paying back,” the investigations officer told the court.
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