Bank boss gave Sh6.7m to stranger, witness tells court

A senior bank employee accused of theft failed to remit Sh6.7 million to the Central Bank in Kisumu as is equired, it has been testified in a court of law.

Instead, Diamond Trust Bank's head of cash, Carolyne Mwenesi Musungu, was allegedly captured on CCTV handing the money to a stranger in her office.

Ms Musungu, who was second in command at the branch, had been left in charge of the bank on May 24, 2017, after the manager, Graham Sultani Iravonga, went to Vihiga on official duty.

The witnesses told Chief Magistrate Bildad Ochieng’ that Musungu walked out of the bank and could not be reached on the phone.

Before leaving, she was said to have turned away G4S staff who had come to take the money to Central Bank, telling them to come later when she was done with repatriation documentation.

The G4S officials returned an hour later, but the head of cash was not in the office.

“I could hear Musungu tell the officers to come a little later to enable her to finalise the documents. On coming back, they didn’t find her and she was unreachable via phone. That is when we informed our boss,” Ronald Kiprono, who worked in the front office before he was transferred to Embu, told the court.

Mr Iravonga said he received a call from the G4S group commander, Zablon Kelly, asking him where Musungu was since there was no one to hand over the money.

“The G4S staff said the head of cash was not at the bank and was not reachable via her phone. I tried to call her but my attempts were futile too,” said Iravonga.