abbychumz
Senior Lister
a man accused of stealing over Sh400,000 from a bank said he thought he had won the lottery. Jared Atembo, a farmer, told Milimani Chief Magistrate Mutemi that when he received the money from the bank, he thought it was from local betting companies. Atembo allegedly stole the monies from a Cooperative bank account belonging to a Kenyan who was working in the United States. He is said to have committed the offence between May 27 and July 2022 at an unknown place within the country.
The funds accessed by Jared belonged to Henry Thuita (a Kenyan working in the United States) who had initially linked the mobile phone number to his account.
As per recent information by the Detectives investigating the matter, the phone number in question is said to have been recyled by Safaricom and was given to Jared over the grounds that the number was inactive. However, the question in the room is how the suspect was able to access the funds deposited in Cooperative bank since he did not own an account with the bank.
Investigators said the accused used the said number to access Thuita’s bank account using the bank’s USSD code *667# and withdrew the amount within a period of two months. “The accused further claims that he thought he was transacting in his own account,” the charge sheet reads.
The prosecution added this is “a fact which was false as he had never operated any account with the bank. The suspect pleaded guilty and said he thought he had won one of three lotteries he had been participating in. “Your honor I didn’t know I was handling somebody else’s money, I thought I had won one of the lotteries I have been actively engaged in,” Atambo said.
The accused was granted a cash bail of Sh200,000 or a bond of Sh400,000. The case will proceed on November 21.
