Kenya: Diamond Trust Bank manager charged for failure to stop financial transactions leading to terrorist attack; bank comments
"DTB official charged in Dusit attack case"
A bank manager suspected of facilitating the financing of the dusitD2 hotel attack which left 21 people dead, via huge M-Pesa transactions, was Wednesday charged in court. Sophia Njoki Mbogo, a DTB Eastleigh branch manager, appeared before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi and pleaded not guilty to three offences. Ms Mbogo was charged with failure to report suspicious activity regarding proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering, aiding and abetting commission of a terrorism Act, as well as failure to report a suspicious transaction amounting to Sh34.7 million. “Being the branch manager, she knowingly failed to report a suspicious activity involving transactions carried out at the said bank and branch to wit Sh34,736,550,” the court heard. The prosecution also told the court that the accused committed the said offenses between December 4, 2018 and January 5 at her place of work.
In response to the charges, DTB in a statement said it was cooperating with law enforcement agencies and had provided all the information required. "We remain committed in our unwavering support to the government in its efforts to fight terrorism, money laundering and eradicating corruption," the lender said. According to the prosecution, she failed to stop transactions of the said monies yet the required withdrawal was not supposed to exceed Sh100,000 as per the proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering Act.