Helford Munene, Charles Mwangi and Julius Ndung'u at Thika Law Courts. They were charged with stealing Sh50 million from KCB's Thika branch. [Photo|the-star.co.ke]
A Thika Court on Thursday released three suspects on a Sh4 million bond each who are facing charges of stealing more than Sh50 million from a bank.
The three suspects, Helford Munene (32), his brother Charles Mwangi (30) and their cousin Julius Ndung’u (32) were being accused of allegedly stealing Sh50 million from the Thika KCB Branch.
Thika chief magistrate Teresia Murigi released the three suspects on a Sh4 million bond each and a surety of the same amount after the police failed to give evidence to support their application seeking to have the three accused persons detained.
The prosecution led by State counsel Stella Oyagi had earlier objected the application to have the accused released on bail saying the prosecution had compelling reasons to deny the suspects bond or bail adding that the suspects may interfere with witnesses and that they were likely to flee
The prosecution told the court that the suspects between November 18 and 20, jointly with others not before the court entered KCB Thika through an underground tunnel and stole the money.
The money stolen from the bank included Sh52,650,000, 95 Australian dollars, 185 Euros, 1,630 Pounds, Tsh 271,000, Ush947,000, $5,781, 40 South African Rand and five Canadian dollars.
The suspects were further charged with dishonestly handling Sh17,135,000, $1,311, 340 Pounds, 3,660 Euros, five Canadian dollars, 85 Australian dollars, Tsh26,000, 40 South African Rand and Ush20,000.
The suspects were arrested on Saturday morning at Marurui Estate in Kiambu after which they led officers to a house in Joy Land where the money was found.
The suspects, however, had denied all the charges before the court and through their lawyer, Zacky Odegi filed an application to be released on bail adding that his clients were not flight risk.
The case will be mentioned on December 14, 2017.