WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-04-05 Time: 07:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
Nairobi – In a bid to modernise its mode of payments, Kenya last year introduced a system known as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).
Although the system was highly welcomed in the country as Kenya’s banking industry joined Tanzania and Uganda, the system has come with a big problem that has left the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit at the Central Bank baffled.
In this system, transactions are settled as soon as they are processed and once this is done, payments are final and irrevocable. Simply put, the transaction from one bank to another, is not subjected to any waiting period.
After its introduction, the new system put a stop to the processing of high value payments using cheques, electronic funds transfers of Sh1 million and above through the Nairobi automated clearing house.
However, perhaps coincidentally, since then cases of alleged theft, labelled by police as theft by servant, have been steadily on the rise. Hardly a day passes before bank employees are arraigned in court charged with this offence.
On Friday March 26, Percy Wangui Kimani, a branch manager with Credit Bank, was charged together with a clerk Justus Makau Mbindyo with stealing Sh7.4 million.
It is alleged that they committed the offence on March 19, 2010 at the bank’s Koinange Street branch. The police say the money came into their possession by virtue of their employment.
On the same day, Ms Kimani also denied a second count of stealing Sh21.9 million from the same bank, an offence she allegedly committed with Ms Dorcas Kerubo Onchwati.
They all denied the offence and Ms Kimani and Ms Onchwati were released on a cash bail of Sh1 million while Mr Mbindyo was freed on a cash bail of Sh500,000. Their case will be consolidated with another file, touching on employees of the same bank, facing similar charges.
Before that, Mr Farah Tejani and Qamar Sultana Barkat Tejani denied stealing close to Sh10 million from the African Banking Corporation Bank.
It is alleged that the two stole the money between February 5 and 23, 2009 at the bank’s Westlands branch. The two were released on a cash bail of Sh300,000.
Arraigned
In a similar case, Mr Bernard Misago Kezengwa was arraigned in court charged with stealing Sh2.8 million from Co-operative Bank’s Parliament Road branch. It is alleged that he stole the money on January 15, this year.
Mr Kezengwa further denied forging a standing order from the said bank due to Kenbill Investment Ltd. Police say he made the document one day earlier at an unknown place.
Similarly, a former manager with fallen stockbroker Nyaga Stock Brokers Ltd was charged with stealing more than Sh5 million. Mr Edward Ng’ethe Mutuku, a former finance and business development manager with the stock broker, was freed on bail.
These and scores of other cases before the court show how banks have lost millions to fraud.
An investigator with the Banking Fraud Unit whom we cannot name as he not authorised to speak to the press, said fraud cases implicating employees were on the increase.
The officer said that fraudsters were ready to give huge rewards to people helping them to commit crimes.
The investigator pointed out that the crime is mostly committee by employees with low pay. The officer further attributed the theft to lack or poor training by some banks.
He said that whereas it is hard to convince an employee who has been properly trained to commit a crime, young and poorly trained employees are an easy target for fraudsters.
The investigator also said that the new forms of Electronic Funds Transfer have exposed some weaknesses to the advantage of fraudsters.
He said a good example is the annual returns to the Kenya Revenue Authority.
The officer said that fraudsters have been doing what they term as substitution of cheques with collusion of bank employees.
He explains that whereas the tax master checks off remittances from employers every quarter, some fraudsters divert cheques falling into their hands before they are detected.
Here to stay
The officer, however, said that the Unit was closing in on fraudsters adding that RTGS system, also known as the Kenya Electronic Payments and Settlement System (Kepss), was here to stay.
The new payment system enables the public to pay as well as receive large value and time-critical payments on a real-time basis.
Those wishing to make large value payments will no longer need to draw cheques or exchange large amounts of cash to conclude a transaction. The Kepss system is owned and operated by the Central Bank.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 3 April 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004050212.html?viewall=1