Vet staff, Kinoti warns banks, saccos over rising fraud cases

Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti. "No one will be spared," he says. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The DCI in a tweet posted on Sunday said Mr Onyango and Nyakomitta have already been arraigned over the fraud.

The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti has warned banks and mobile service providers over financial fraud, saying cases are mostly perpetrated by their own employees.

Speaking in an event held at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Friday, Mr Kinoti urged financial institutions to conduct thorough background checks on potential and current employees.

This comes after the arrest of Mr Peter Sungu Nyakomitta, a branch Manager with Diamond Trust Bank in Kisii, who is suspected of stealing Sh25 million from customers’ fixed deposit accounts, a crime discovered after an internal reconciliation process was done.

In similar incident, Mr Abel Onyango, a relations officer with Family Bank, allegedly withdrew Sh1.5 million from customers’ accounts through SIM swaps. The DCI in a tweet posted on Sunday said Mr Onyango and Nyakomitta have already been arraigned over the fraud.

The DCI also reported that a manager at Harambee Sacco Limited, Mr Habil Onyango Owiti, allegedly stole from the vault in smaller amounts cash amounting to Sh1, 783,392 that was meant for sacco delegates and miscellaneous expenditure.

Mr Owiti is set to be arraigned on Monday