Three charged with Sh970,000 Eazzy Banking theft

Antony Baru Kiaba, Kelvin Maina Mwaniki and Joseph Kariuki Kuria at Thika Law Courts yesterday where they were charged with stealing Sh970,000. (Kamau Maichuhie, Standard).

Three suspects have been charged with stealing Sh970,000 from a bank account belonging to a 67-year-old woman.

Anthony Baru Kiaba, Kelvin Maina Mwaniki and Joseph Kariuki Kuria were arraigned before Thika Senior Principal Magistrate Ann Maina charged with stealing from Faith Wanjiku Njiriri.

The three denied that they conspired with others not before court to steal the money from Wanjiku's account at Equity Bank, Thika branch on July 16.

Kiaba and Mwaniki were charged with a second count of stealing Sh970,000 from an account at Equity Bank, Thika.

Prosecution counsel Wamuyu Nguai told the court police were still pursuing more suspects.

The magistrate ordered the accused detained at Thika Police Station till Monday when their case will be mentioned.

Wanjiku's plight became known through the social media. In a post that appeared on Facebook and several WhatsApp groups, Wanjiku is said to have lost the money deposited in her account after selling a piece of land at Sh2 million.

She said she opened a bank account at Equity Bank on May 31, to deposit proceeds from the sale of the land. She planned to buy another piece of land and build a simple house.

Wanjiku had already paid the first installment of Sh1 million for the land and was to clear the balance a few days later when on July 16, she realised someone had siphoned Sh970,216 from her account in four transactions using the the Equity Bank's Eazzy Banking App.

According to the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, Wanjiku's money was siphoned from her account in four transactions of Sh300,030 each through an Eazzy Banking App, while Sh70,000 was sent to various Equitel numbers.

This happened despite the fact that the woman had never registered for the Eazzy Banking App nor sought its services.