A 34 year old man has today been charged with stealing over Kshs 600 ,000 from two Members of parliament after swapping their mobile sim cards ,transferring funds to himself and taking loans from various mobile money lending apps.
Boniface Kirui appeared before Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina ,where he was charged with eight counts of unauthorized interference to computer data, stealing and identity theft.
The Prosecution told court that On the 12th day of April 2023 at 1717Hrs at unknown place , Kirui intentionally and without authority changed the Safaricom details of Marakwet West Mp Timothy Toroitich by causing unauthorized interference to the Safaricom computer data of the legislator.
He also faced a second count where it is alleged that on the same night he stole Ksh.547,567.00/-from Kenya Commercial bank account number 1125230371 held in the name Timothy Toroitich.
Kirui who told police that he is in the Jua Kali industry was also separately charged with stealing Kshs 133,785 from Matungulu Member of Parliament Stephen Mule.
The particulars of the offense are that on diverse dates between 24th of March, 2023 and 26th of March, 2023 at unknown place and time within the Republic of Kenya, he jointly with others not before court stole Kshs. 133,785/- from M-Pesa account, Timiza Account, Mshwari account, Vooma App, KCB M-pesa account and KCB Bank account of Mule.
Court documents indicate that Kirui then proceeded to borrow money from Barclays ,Timiza loan app,Mshwari and the Vooma App.
The court documents further state that on the fateful night t,he safaricom line of Toroitich suddenly lost network. He thought it was normal network failure and when the condition persisted, he asked his personal assistant to call his number to find out if the call could go through.
However, to his surprise the call went through and was answered by other person.This prompted him to call safaricom customer care and he was informed that his line was simswapped at 0517hrs.
The Mp who is also an Advocate, later called two banks where his accounts are domiciled ,namely National Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank to confirm whether his bank account had been compromised.
The responds received from Kenya Commercial Bank was that someone got access to his account and transferred a sum of Ksh. 617,567 to a bank account and various safaricom numbers.
On 13th April 2023, the Mp visited his branch at Kipande house where he obtained a customer statement and later reported the matter at Parliament police station for police investigations.
According to the State prosecutor Anderson Gikunda told court that “Kirui is a regular visitor at the courts since he has other pending criminal cases.
Kirui was also charged with being in possession of identity cards belonging to Phanice Otanga,Robert Mogeni ,Emma cherono ,Alex Magena and two other persons.Seargent Christopher Mutonyi from the Directorate of Criminal investigations is set to testify in the criminal case against Kirui.
The matter will be mentioned tomorrow for the court to rule on bond terms after he pleaded not guilty to all counts.
