Former Chase Bank Chairperson Zafrulla Mohammed Khan and seven others including a politician have been charged afresh with stealing and money laundering charges.
Khan is charged alongside Duncan Kabui,James Mwaura Mwenja,Makorios Omondi Agumbi, Politician Patrick Mweu Musimba and his wife Angela Mwende Musimba, Lucien Sunter, Ronald Petrus Vlasman, Porting Access Limited and Itecs Limited.
However, out of all the accused persons requires to appear before court today, only the Chairperson was present.
Khan was charged that between 23rd January 2015 and 31st March 2016 at the Banks Head office in Nairobi, stole Sh 1,150,125,587.20 from the bank.
He also faced an alternative charge of stealing by servant. The court heard that Khan, stole the above money which got into his possession by virtue of his employment.
Money Laundering
In a another count, Khan, Kabui, Mwenja, and Agumbi were charged with money laundering in that they removed Sh 740,442,687.20 from the bank’s internal account and facilitated its transfer to two other accounts domiciled at Paramount Universal Bank, knowing or while ought to have reasonably known that it formed part of proceeds of crime.
They are also accuses of removing another Sh 404,682,900 from the bank and facilitating its transfer to an account domiciled at Kenya Commercial Bank, Kipande house, knowing or while ought to have known it formed part of the proceeds of crime.
All the accused persons are also facing a charge of conspiracy to defraud. The court heard that on the same dates and place, all the accused persons conspired to steal the 1.1B by irregularly disbursing the monies to porting access limited and Itecs limited without following the payment process as stipulated under the Finance policy of the bank.
Khan, who is facing two other criminal cases denied all the charges before Senior Resident Magistrate Helen Onkwani.
Cash bail request
The accused person’s lawyer Cecil Miller requested the court to allow the cash bail in the other two matters to apply this one since the parties and offenses are similar.
“If the same cannot be applied, then I pray that the court grants my client a cash bail not exceeding Sh 2 million,” Miller submitted.
He also requested the court to grant his client permission to travel to the United States for an urgent heart surgery.
Miller told the court that his client is not at flight risk it being that he had been granted permission in the other cases to travel to the US for treatment and he did come come back to the country.
However, the prosecutor Warui told the court that new bond terms should be issued since the case before court was different from the other two.
He submitted that Khan should be restrained from travelling outside the jurisdiction of the court without permission.
The court heard that the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit is still conducting more investigations and is likely to prefer more charges involving larger amounts of money against the accuses persons.
He added that for the above reasons and the fact that Khan’s family resides in the US, if allowed to travel, he may not come back.
“He may not have heard a reason to abscond back then but now has every reason not to come back to the country,” Warui told court.
Differ Plea
Miller also informed the court that he was also representing Kabui, Mwenja, and Agumbi in the matter. He told the court that they were unaware they were required in court today and asked the court to defer their plea taking to 17th September 2018.
He added that he only appeared with Khan before the BFIU where they informed him that he could present the rest of his client another day.
Honorable Onkwani directed that the miller’s clients appeared on 17th for plea taking and issued warrants of arrest to the other accused persons.
She further directed that she will deliver the ruling on Khan’s bail application on that date
