BANKS BETRAYAL: How Equity Bank Allegedly Helped Thieves Loot Sh10 Million From Family’s Savings in Lightning Fast Court Scam

The walls are closing in on Equity Bank Kenya as shocking details emerge of how the nation’s banking giant allegedly facilitated the wholesale theft of over Sh10 million from a family’s account in what investigators are calling one of the most brazen banking frauds ever witnessed in the country.

Three siblings have dragged the banking behemoth to Milimani Law Courts, accusing it of conspiring with fraudsters in a meticulously choreographed heist that saw their entire life savings vanish in just 31 days through a suspect court process that reads like a Hollywood crime thriller.

Isaac Kennedy Mwangi, Mary Karanja, and Joseph Kinuthia watched in horror as Sh10,464,725 evaporated from their joint fixed deposit account with their father David Karangi at Equity Bank’s Ngong Branch.

The money, deposited on September 27, 2024, disappeared by December 14 of the same year through what the family describes as a well-oiled criminal enterprise that exploited Kenya’s legal system.

The smoking gun in this financial nightmare is a garnishee order from a case the family knew nothing about.

When Isaac Mwangi walked into the Kitengela Branch in July 2025 for a routine balance check, he received news that would shatter any account holder’s confidence in Kenya’s banking system. The account was empty. Cleaned out. Gone.

The money had been seized to satisfy a court decree in a case filed in Embu involving Marina Group Limited, Lucy W. Muturi, and astonishingly, the Estate of David Kariuki Karangi.

Here is where the plot thickens into a grotesque mockery of justice. The case was filed against David Karangi’s estate in November 2024. There was just one problem.

David Karangi was still breathing. He would not pass away until February 2025, months after fraudsters had already obtained a court decree against his nonexistent estate.

The original lawsuit claimed Marina Group was owed Sh19.8 million for farm machinery allegedly supplied to Lucy Muturi and David Karangi’s estate.

The family vehemently denies ever receiving any goods.

They insist the debt recovery agreement presented in court is a forgery, pointing out that their father used his thumbprint for official documents, not the signature that mysteriously appeared on court papers.

What happened next in Embu should send chills down the spine of every Kenyan who trusts banks with their hard-earned money.

The case moved at supersonic speed. Filed in November 2024, it was wrapped up with a consent judgment of Sh19.8 million just 15 days later on November 27.

The parties, represented by Onyango and Aywa Advocates for Marina Group and B.K Rono and Co. Advocates for the defendants, agreed the money should be paid within two days. A court decree followed immediately.

The court documents explicitly stated that account number 0700385782428 at Equity Bank’s Ngong Branch should be debited to satisfy the judgment.

This is the account allegedly belonging to Lucy Muturi.

But on December 14, 2024, Equity Bank did something that defies all logic and banking protocols. It debited a completely different account. The family’s account. An account with a different number and registered under different names.

How does a bank, particularly one as sophisticated as Equity Bank, transfer over Sh10 million from the wrong account? The family insists they were never notified. Never contacted. Never given a chance to defend themselves. The bank simply handed over their money to lawyers for Marina Group as if it were dispensing candy.

This catastrophic failure comes at a time when Equity Bank is already reeling from multiple fraud scandals that have rocked Kenya’s financial sector.

Earlier this year, the bank fired 1,200 employees following internal investigations that uncovered over Sh1.5 billion in fraudulent transactions.

CEO James Mwangi declared he would be consistently ruthless in purging unethical workers, yet here we have a case where the bank’s own systems allegedly facilitated the looting of an innocent family’s savings.

The Sh1.5 billion heist involved 47 carefully orchestrated transactions that siphoned money from Equity Bank’s salary suspense general ledger over several months.

City lawyer Esther Bitutu Kadiki was arrested and charged in May 2025 in connection with that massive fraud, revealing how deeply criminal syndicates have penetrated Kenya’s banking institutions.

The Mwangi family case raises disturbing questions about the safeguards, or lack thereof, protecting customer accounts at Kenya’s banks. How did a garnishee order targeting one specific account number lead to money being withdrawn from an entirely different account? Why was there no verification process? Why were the rightful account holders never contacted?

In their court filing, the siblings accuse Equity Bank of conspiracy, gross negligence, and catastrophic failure to uphold its fiduciary duty. The bank, they argue, failed to provide even basic protection to their property, leading to a loss that has devastated their family financially.

The lawsuit against Marina Group and Lucy Muturi alleges fraud, conspiracy to sue a nonexistent legal entity, and production of fake debt agreements. But the most damning accusations are reserved for Equity Bank, the institution that Kenyans trust to safeguard their money.

This case exposes gaping holes in Kenya’s banking and judicial systems.

It demonstrates how a rapid fire court process in a remote courthouse, combined with a bank’s failure to execute basic account verification, can destroy a family’s financial security in less than a month.

The family is demanding full restitution of Sh10,464,725 plus interest and costs from all three defendants. As this legal battle unfolds, thousands of Equity Bank customers are left wondering a terrifying question. If it happened to the Mwangi family, could my account be next?

Equity Bank has built a reputation as a champion of financial inclusion, growing from a struggling building society to become Kenya’s second largest lender.

But with assets of Sh1.74 trillion and nearly 14,000 workers spread across seven countries, the bank now faces a crisis of confidence that no amount of marketing can fix.

For Isaac Mwangi and his siblings, the message is clear.

The institution they trusted with their family’s future allegedly conspired in its destruction. Now they are fighting not just for their money, but for justice in a system that appears to have spectacularly failed them at every turn.

The courtroom battle ahead will determine whether Kenya’s banks can continue operating with such apparent impunity, or whether customers finally get the protection the law supposedly guarantees.