The hearing of a case in which Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Thika branch lost Sh52.6 million two years ago after thieves dug a tunnel to the bank vault kicked off on Wednesday.
The prosecution has lined up eight witnesses at the hearing before Thika Law Courts Chief Magistrate Julius Nang’ea.
The KCB Thika branch manager Samuel Ngang’a, his assistant Jackson Challo and bank’s operations manager Martin Matheka testified during the first hearing.
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The other witnesses who were to testify among them Edward Maina, the caretaker of the bank premises, did not testify as prosecution had not supplied witness statements to the defense council.
The defense team led by Oronga Jack and Waithira Mwangi from Odhiambo Odonga and Company Advocates took Jackson Challo, who is the assistant branch manager at KCB Bank in-charge of cash department, to task after he presented a cash summary report of the day the bank was robbed.
They claimed the cash summary of the day the money was allegedly stolen lacked authenticity because it had no letterhead or dates.
The accused, Halford Munene Murakaru, Charles Mwangi Murakaru, Shem Karani, and Julius Ndung’u are accused of committing the offence on November 18th, 2017 at KCB Bank in Thika town.
They are all out on bond.
Detectives believe the accused dug a tunnel to access the bank’s vault.
The incident went undiscovered until Monday, November 20, 2017 when the bank resumed for normal operations after a weekend.
The accused are believed to have made away with Sh52.6 million, 95 Australian dollars, 185 euros, 1,630 sterling pounds, 271,000 Tanzania shillings, 947,000 Uganda shillings, US$5,781, 40 South African rand and five Canadian dollars.
After the theft, police recovered a total of Sh17.1 million, US$1,311, 340 sterling pounds, 3,660 euros, 5 Canadian dollars, 85 Australian dollars, 46,000 Tanzania shillings and 20,000 Uganda shillings in Juja, Kiambu county about 10 kilometres from the KCB branch.
