Faulu Bank officials alleged forging their client’s signature in a bid to fraudulently auction the property worth Sh 150 million which was a guarantor on a loan borrowed and paid back.
The lead investigator in the matter where an 80-year-old widow sued Faulu Bank for fraudulently auctioning her property claiming she failed to settle a loan of Sh 65 million says her signature was forged.
While giving his testimony before the Milimani court, Chief Inspector Isaack Ogutu told the court that a forensic document examiner made a report stating that the signature of Alice Wanjiru Wamwea a complainant in the matter was forged where the bank auctioned her property at Sh 85 million alleging that she failed to settle a loan she borrowed in the said bank.
Wamwea lodged a complaint before the court to salvage her property LR NO 209/11315 located in Huruma Estate in Nairobi within Nairobi county which the bank took in possession and sold for what they termed as failure to pay the loan she borrowed from them.
In her testimony, the widow told the court that she borrowed a Sh 52 million loan from Faulu Bank to develop the property by building rental houses where the money was disbursed in two separate payments at a rate of 12% per annum given 54 months.
She put the title of the property as security of the loan and signed the relevant documents regarding the loan request.
The second loan was disbursed on April 12, 2014, as she continued to pay the first loan as agreed.
According to the statement she recorded, she requested the bank statements to understand the status of her two accounts and she was never provided,
“I was paying the loan as per the agreement but when I requested for the bank statements they never produced not even one, to the juncture I sensed something was wrong,” read her statement.
She proceeded to the Co-operative bank seeking a loan to offset the one in Faulu.
She was given an offer by the Co-operative bank which she signed on June 4, 2018, for the bank to undertake and pay the loan at Faulu on her behalf.
The bank had valued the property and found its value amounted to Sh 150 million.
Faulu refused to release the statements and documents including the copy of the title deed to the Co-operative bank instead they cleared the holding account with Sh 58,952,900 which was contrary to the letter of offer dated May 9, 2015.
Due to these reasons, they refused to disburse the loan.
The Investigation revealed that the complainant had opened two accounts one being a holding account where the deducted loan from the main one was to be deposited.
Ogutu said that the monies which were remitted from the main account for loan repayment according to the documents amounted to 58,952,900 of which was not remitted for the intended purpose of loan payment,
“The holding account had 58,952,900 for the purpose of paying the loan as per the documents but the money was transferred to other accounts without deducting the loan due,” Ogutu told the court.
She told the court that she never signed any document for the loan of Sh 65 million and was astonished to learn about that information,
“I never borrowed a loan of 65 million but this is the amount I paid for the loan I borrowed together with interest accrued,” Wamwea said.
During this point, the investigators collected specimen signatures from previous bank transaction documents she had signed and that foreign document and subjected them to documents examiner at the DCI Headquarters banking unit for analysis.
The report which was produced before the court by the documents examiner concluded that the signatures were not originated from the same person.
Investigations further revealed that the subject property had been sold through the auction company Oceans Investment Supplying Limited with reasons of failure to settle a loan.
Six accused persons including three Faulu bank officials, an auctioneer and two traders were arrested for the offence and charged in court.
Faulu Microfinance bank credit officers Amos Mugweru Mwangi, Peter Kefa Onsongo and Tom Jaseme together with Trader Paul Njuki, businesswoman Esther Muthoni Maina and auctioneer Robert Wamwere Maina were charged that on diverse dates between May 30, 2015 and March 28, 2018, at unknown place in Nairobi within Nairobi county jointly conspired to defraud Alice Wanjiru Wamwea using fraudulent auction of her property LR NO 209/11315, in Huruma which valued at Sh 150 million.
They were further charged with the offence of stealing contrary to section 275 of the penal code.
Mugweru and Muthoni were separately charged with the offences of stealing and forgery respectively.
The court heard that on March 23, 2015, at an unknown place in Nairobi, Muthoni forged the signature of Alice Wanjiru Wamwea on the Faulu Bank application form purporting it to be the genuine signature of said Wamwea.
On diverse dates between August 8, 2014, and April 11, 2015, at Faulu Bank’s head office in Nairobi county jointly with others who were not in court, Mugweru stole Sh 22,000,000 from the property of Alice Wanjiru Wamwea.
Muthoni is charged with forging the signature of Wamwea on the Faulu Bank Loan application form purporting it to be the genuine signature of the complainant.
The matter will be mentioned on November 28 to confirm compliance with written submissions.
