A Kenyan businesswoman is facing fraud charges in a court in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Sources say the 40-year-old woman identified as Primrose Nyeri Mwangi, is alleged to have hacked into the Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (Zimdef) and thereafter stole $120 million from the organization’s bank accounts.
The crimes were allegedly committed between December 1 and December 29 of last year before a whistle-blower sent an email to the organisation after uncovering the scheme on December 28.
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The prosecution team says the lady joined efforts with several others where they successfully gained access to Zimdef’s computer systems and used authorization codes to transfer large amounts of money to their own accounts.
The team, according to Zimbabwean news outlets, on Tuesday, January 10, asserted that between December 1 and December 29 of last year, Mwangi collaborated with Gerald Pondai, Prosper Hove, and some other members of their syndicate to gain access to the computer data systems of Zimdef and, as a result, to the ZB Bank and CBZ accounts of Zimdef.
So far only $30,000 of the stolen funds has been recovered. This was after one of the transactions was cancelled by the National Building Society.
Bank records showed that $120 million had been taken from the CBZ Bank and Zimdef ZB Bank accounts, with $30,000 being recovered thanks to the cancelled transaction.
In a second account, Mwangi is facing charges of violating the terms of her visitor’s entry certificate, which only allowed her to stay in the country as a tourist for one month between December 14 and January 14.
It is yet to be established how she and her accomplices accessed the system.
Thee matter remains under investigation.
