On Monday 7, Jared Atambo, a farmer appeared in Milimani court where he is been held for  taking money from Co-Op . He pondered why he was been arraigned over 402,000, He was asked to collect from his Co-operative bank account through his mobile phone.

“I received a text message that I should access funds by dialing *667#,” Mr. Atambo told chief magistrate Wendy Kagendo.

He said he was shocked to be told he  had stolen the money yet the messages were sent to his mobile phone.

“I thought I had won lotto, Tatua Tatu or Shabiki(betting sites) when I received the money. Because I had been participating in the betting ,” Jared told the magistrate.

Mr. Atambo says he had no reason to doubt himself because he had been betting when he received the text message to access the account.

The accused is alleged to have committed the offence between May27 and July 2022.

The Reason

In addition to that , it has been reveled that the account holder is one Henry Thuita who lives in the U.S.

Upon his return from the U.S in July, Mr Thuita alerted the bank that a sum of money had been withdrawn from his account. After reporting it was discoreved that the money was withdrawn by a phone number.

Investigation reveal that Mr. Thuita’s mobile number became inactive when he moved to the U.S.

Safaricom revealed that they had sold the number to Mr.  Atambo.

Furthermore, it is purported that the accused accessed the bank account by dialing *667# through the number and withdrew money over a period of two months.

Magistrate Kadendo told the accused that his explanation amounted to a plea of not guilty , she granted him a bond of sh500,000 or cash bail of sh200,000.

The case will be mentioned in 2 weeks to hearing dates.

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