The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has asked a Nairobi court to order the continued detention of a senior NCBA Group employee over the fraudulent loss of at least Sh47 million.
Philip Kiprono Rotich, who has been with NCBA for 10 years, is suspected of committing the crime between November 2023 and October 2024 when he was an assistant operations manager at the bank’s Kisii branch.
The crime was reported to police on October 14, 2024 by the bank’s head of security Noah Cheptumo, who said the fraud was committed on customers’ accounts.
Mr Rotich is being investigated for allegedly possessing of proceeds of crime contrary to Section 4 (C) as read together with Section 16.1 (A) of the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act.
He is also being investigated for conspiracy to commit a felony, forgery, uttering a false document and stealing contrary to various sections of the Penal Code.
The suspect, according to court papers, would receive instructions from the clients to transfer funds internally through bank transfers, but would divert the funds and credit the money into various bank accounts of his associates.
“It is my prayer to this honourable court to remand the respondent at Kileleshwa Police Station for 10 days to allow the applicant to complete the investigations, collect the documents, record statements, verify the identity of the suspects involved and prefer charges to the respondent,” the DPP said.
A ruling on the application will be rendered on Wednesday. The suspect has been in custody at Kileleshwa Police Station since Monday.
Some of the affected clients of the bank, according to court documents, are Neel Gudkas (Sh14.7 million), a Catholic diocese (Sh9 million) and a bishop (Sh9 million).
The DPP asserts that the 10 days would allow detectives to collect specimen signatures for the transaction slips of the affected bank accounts during the period of the fraud and subject them to forensic document analysis.
“There is need for the investigating officer after establishment of the paper trail to asset trace the properties of the respondents together with his accomplices deemed to be proceeds of crime,” reads a supporting affidavit sworn by an officer from the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit.
Mr Cheptumo told investigators that the suspect took “advantage of trust bestowed on him by big clients of the branch and his colleagues”, to orchestrate the heist.
At the tail-end of the fraudulent transactions, the DPP says, Mr Rotich would receive the amounts in his bank account held at KCB, salary account at NCBA and through mobile banking platforms.
“The investigating officer vehemently believes that the respondent together with others at large schemed and orchestrated the fraud to siphon funds from big clients at the NCBA Kisii branch,” reads the application.
Investigators are also pursuing leads as to how the suspect used the details of his friends to open other bank accounts into which he would deposit the money.
One such account was used to receive deposits of Sh4 million before the funds were transferred to the suspect’s cohort’s bank accounts.
The court has been informed that one of the said friends of the suspect has disputed ever opening such an account.
The suspect is currently on suspension but the DPP avers in court papers that he (Mr Rotich) continues to defraud unsuspecting clients of their hard-earned money.
“The bank continues to receive more complaints from its clients in the Kisii branch. There is fear that the amount might go higher as the investigations continue. The respondent while on suspension continues to fraud customers, taking the advantage that the customers still know he is on duty,” the application reads.
NCBA bank says that it is concerned about its image and clientele base and is urging the court to detain the suspect while more concrete evidence is gathered.
