A Kisumu court has convicted three members of the same family in a fraud case involving Ksh113.2 million allegedly diverted from a local wholesale distribution business.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Senior Principal Magistrate Fatuma Rashid found the trio guilty on all six counts brought against them by the prosecution.
The charges stemmed from transactions carried out between 2020 and 2021, involving customer payments and wholesale goods belonging to the business.
“The charges arose from the alleged fraudulent diversion of customer payments and wholesale goods worth Ksh113.2 million from the company in Kisumu on diverse dates between October 2020 and July 2021,” the ODPP wrote in a statement on Saturday, October 24.
An image showing a person working on a laptop.
Court proceedings revealed that one of the accused, who worked as an accountant at the company, manipulated its accounting system to create fictitious transactions and conceal missing funds.
Prosecutors presented evidence showing that customer payments were allegedly redirected to bank and mobile money accounts linked to the other two accused instead of the company’s official accounts.
A forensic examination of documents and an audit report helped establish that Ksh113,227,529 could not be accounted for.
Witnesses included company employees, customers, bank officials, forensic examiners and investigators who testified about how the transactions were conducted.
The court rejected the defence argument that the transactions were legitimate business arrangements, finding that the evidence demonstrated a coordinated scheme to defraud the company and conceal the proceeds.
The magistrate also found that the two other accused participated in the theft and money-laundering activities connected to the diverted payments.
The three were convicted of conspiracy to commit a felony, money laundering, and acquiring or possessing proceeds of crime, while the former accountant faced additional charges relating to theft and fraudulent accounting.
Sentencing has been scheduled for October 29, 2026, following the court’s decision.
The case follows other incidents in which family members have faced criminal allegations together, including a mother and daughter arrested in Karatina in August over an alleged scheme to transfer family land valued at approximately Ksh40 million into their names and those of associated companies.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) headquarters in Nairobi
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ODPP