Former Chase Bank bosses have been charged with stealing millions of shillings from Chase Bank Limited and money Laundering.
Mohammed Zafrulla Khan, Duncan Kabui Gichu, James Mwaura Mwenja and Makarios Omondi Agumbi were charged with stealing Sh 500,475,801.92 from the bank between 16th December 2014 and 31st march 2015.
Khan also faced a solo charge of stealing the money which came to his possession by virtue of his employment.
The four were also charged with two counts of money laundering on the same dates at chase bank office in Nairobi.
The court heard that the accused knowingly or while reasonably ought to have known the above money formed part of the proceeds of crime, removed the said from chase bank internal account and facilitated the transfer of the same amount to account number AE150330000010494309702 domiciled at Mashreq bank in Dubai in the name of Emmar properties pjsc.
Lastly the accused persons were charged with granting unsecured advances to a director on the same dates and place.
They were accused that jointly, knowing that Mohammed Zafrulla Khan was a director of chase bank, fraudulently advanced the above money from chase bank internal account to Emmar Properties pjsc for purchase of two properties namely Opera grand unit 6202 and Armani Residences Unit 1212 in his name without any security thereby resulting to a loss and injury to the bank.
They denied the charges before Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku who granted a bond of Sh 2 million. The matter will be mentioned on 15th May for consolidation with another file in which they have already been charged.
The four were charged with stealing Sh 1.7 billion from the bank thereby contributing to its fall. They denied the charges and were released on bond.
Khan had moved to the High Court seeking orders stopping his prosecution but the application was dismissed. He was therefore charged with the offenses before the criminal court.
The bank was placed under receivership for 12 months after experiencing liquidity difficulties leading to a loss of millions of shillings for the financial year 2015.
An audit report showed the bank had loaned its directors $80m, and its bad debts had skyrocketed to $100m.
The bank posted a profit of $23m in 2014, only to record a loss of $7m the following year.
