Three members of one family have been jailed for 10 years each by a Kisumu court for stealing and laundering Sh113.2 million from Such Enterprises Limited, a Kisumu-based trading company where one of them worked as an accountant.

Senior Principal Magistrate Fatuma Rashid sentenced accountant Christopher Joseph Okal, his brother Vincent Anyumba and their mother Grace Minayo Okal after finding them guilty on all six counts brought by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

The sentences

The heaviest terms were imposed under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act:

  • Money laundering: 10 years each.
  • Acquiring and possessing proceeds of crime: 10 years each.
  • Conspiracy to commit a felony: five years each.
  • Stealing by servant, fraudulent false accounting and stealing: five years for Okal.
  • Stealing: three years each for the mother and brother.

The terms will run concurrently, meaning each of the three will serve 10 years. They have 14 days to appeal against the conviction and sentence.

How the money was diverted

The prosecution, led by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Daniel Karuri and Principal Prosecution Counsel Douglas Moseti, told the court that between October 2020 and July 2021 customer payments and wholesale goods worth Sh113.2 million were channelled away from the company.

An audit established that Sh113,227,529 could not be accounted for. The court heard that Okal used his access to the company's accounting system to create fictitious transactions, alter records and hide entries, while customers were told to pay for goods into bank and mobile money accounts linked to the family instead of the company's official accounts.

The magistrate was persuaded that Okal was the mastermind and that accounts belonging to his relatives were used to receive and hide the proceeds. The defence had argued that the payments were legitimate business arrangements, but the court rejected that claim, finding a coordinated scheme to defraud the company.

Forensic trail

Witnesses included company staff, customers, bank officials, forensic document examiners and investigating officers. Karuri had asked the court for at least 10 years, saying the sentence should reflect the scale of the theft and the laundering that followed.

The case shows prosecutors increasingly adding money laundering charges to ordinary theft cases, which carry far heavier penalties and allow the State to go after the proceeds of crime long after the money has left a victim's books.

Photos: ODPP via Dawan Africa; ODPP logo. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.