How An Accountant Defrauded Sh200M From a Logistics Company and Temporarily Went Into Hiding

An accountant accused of conspiring with four others to steal over Ksh 200 million from four logistics companies based in Mombasa was charged with multiple counts of fraud on Wednesday.

Robert Wangila Wandera appeared before Principal Magistrate Gladys Ollimo, where he faced numerous charges, including conspiracy to defraud, stealing by servant, and false accounting. Additional charges against Wandera included forgery, uttering a false document, providing false information to public servants, and money laundering.

The prosecution alleges that Wandera stole Ksh 200,585,052 from Igsar Group Company Limited, Husaaba Trading Company Limited, Sunova International Limited, and Inland Logistics.

The court heard that the accused, in collaboration with others not yet before the court, conspired to defraud the four firms by fraudulently withdrawing cash from Absa Bank Kenya Limited account number 2039703583 using Bwanyange Company Limited cheques.

Further testimony revealed that Wandera falsified accounts by making fake entries into the companies’ books to suggest that Bwanyange Limited had paid over Ksh 200 million to the four companies for goods, forex trading remittances, and other transactions.

Wandera is also accused of forging the signature of Thomas Evans Huntly on a letter of acceptance dated May 20, 2020, falsely indicating Huntly’s acceptance as a director of Bwanyange Company Limited.

Additionally, Wandera allegedly presented forged minutes of Bwanyange Limited, purportedly signed by Thomas Evans Huntly, which were submitted using the E-Citizen account of Anderson Kombe Hare.

Wandera denied all the charges and was released on a Ksh 2.5 million bond with a surety of a similar amount.

The court has also summoned two other suspects, Alex Mutemi Mwenga and Barnabas Agar, to face the same charges.

Two additional suspects, Pavan Kentan Ramji Shah and Anderson Kombe Hare, were charged two months ago with the same offenses. Their cases will be consolidated into a single file once all suspects have entered their pleas, as the charges are similar.