Stock broker charged with Sh47m fraud

Abraham Kibet Too at a Milimani court when he was charged with Sh47 million fraud at stock brokerage firm Kestrel Capital. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

A stock broker was Wednesday charged with perpetrating a Sh47 million fraud.

Ibrahim Kibet Too, who allegedly acted as the operations manager at leading stock brokerage firm, Kestrel Capital East Africa Limited, entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ before Chief Magistrate Francis Andai at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.

Mr Too was granted a Sh4 million bond or the option of depositing a Sh3 million cash bail and was released pending the hearing of the case on November 4.

“I see no reason to deny the accused bond, given that he is not a high flight risk individual, but his bond terms will be stiff given the weight of the accusations brought against him,” ruled Mr Andai.

According to Kestrel Capital investigators, the theft was allegedly executed between 2013 and 2015. The theft was discovered in an audit carried out in November last year.

In May this year, Kestrel directors took the matter to the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), the industry regulator. The CMA carried out further investigations and ascertained the depth of the fraud before prosecuting the stock broker.

CMA has been cracking down on such fraud cases, with the Kestrel case being among those that have been fully investigated internally and taken to court.

According to investigation reports, Mr Too was in charge of client accounts and also had access to Kestrel accounts.

In 2013, the investigators found out that money was being withdrawn from Kestrel accounts in measured proportions and the same deposited into a series of carefully chosen client accounts.

The money was then used to buy shares for the clients.

The prosecution intends to call three witnesses to prove its case.

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