Court Finds Faulu Bank Officials Have a Case to Answer in Forged Signature Auction
"All six accused persons have a case to answer and this court has considered them to be put on their defence," the magistrate ruled.
Faulu Bank officials who alleged forging their client’s signature in a bid to fraudulently auction the property worth Ksh 150 million have a case to answer, the court ruled.
While delivering the ruling on Wednesday, Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina ruled that 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 have a case to answer and put them on their defence,
“All six accused persons have a case to answer and this court has considered them to be put on their defence,” the magistrate ruled.
The six were charged that on diverse dates between May 30, 2015, and March 28, 2018, at an unknown place in Nairobi within Nairobi county jointly conspired to defraud Alice Wanjiru Wamwea using a fraudulent auction of her property LR NO 209/11315, in Huruma which valued at Sh 150 million.
The said property was put as security to guarantee a loan that was borrowed and paid back.
They were further charged with stealing contrary to section 275 of the penal code.
Mugweru and Muthoni were separately charged with stealing and forgery respectively.
The charge read that 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 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 court considered the evidence that was tabled in court against the six coming to conclude they stood on their defence.
The officer investigating 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 had told the court her signature was forged.
While giving his testimony before the Milimani court, Chief Inspector Isaack Ogutu said that a forensic document examiner made a report stating that the signature of Alice Wanjiru Wamwea, the 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, Wamwea told the court that she borrowed a loan of Ksh 52 million from Faulu Bank to develop the property by building rental houses where the money was disbursed in two tranches 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 to secure the loan.
The second loan was disbursed on April 12, 2014, as she continued to pay the first one as agreed.
According to her statement, 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 any, to the juncture I sensed something was wrong,” read part of 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.
Co-operative bank valued the property and found its value amounted to Ksh 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 Ksh 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 the loan repayment according to the documents amounted to Ksh 58,952,900 which was not remitted for the intended purpose of the loan payment,
“The holding account had Ksh 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.
Wamwea 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 concerning the offence and charged in court.
The matter will proceed on September 8 and 9, 2025, when the accused persons will be put on their defence.
