Second Witness Details Manager’s Scheme to Divert Company Funds to Personal Accounts
"I knew it was wrong, but he was my senior and threatened me if I dared to report to other directors," Ramani told the magistrate.
For the second day in a row, another Oki Trading Company Limited employee has testified that the former manager instructed him to deposit the company’s money into personal accounts.
Testifying before Milimani Senior Principal Dolphina Alego, Sameer Kewal Ramani, the supplier manager by then, narrated how he obeyed his seniors’ wrong instructions without questioning.
“He used threats and intimidation to silence workers while illegally misusing the company’s funds,” he said.
Ramani told the court that he used to supply electronic and domestic equipment to their clients. With the manager’s instructions, Honey Khatwani, he deposited the money into his personal account held at Eco Bank.
“I knew it was wrong, but he was my senior and threatened me if I dared to report to other directors,” Ramani told the magistrate.
The witness told the court that instructions were given on where to deposit the money: the bank account of the accused person and the M-Pesa account belonging to his wife.
Surprisingly, the accused said that the former manager, Khatwani, used to pick employees from Oki Trading Company Limited to go and work in the new company, Galaxy Middle East Africa Limited, claiming it was the same company.
He stated that it was a trick by Khatwani to use the workforce of the employees of OTCL to work in the newly established company, which was under his name, without paying them.
During cross-examination, the defence lawyer defended the accused, asking the witness to draw evidence that he personally sent money to Khatwani’s account.
“As a witness, do you have any formal evidence indicating you sent money to the accused person? The defence asked. “It is composed in the audit report before this court,” he responded.
The defence further applied for the temporary release of the accused’s passport, saying he needed to travel on a business trip to Dubai from September 29 to October 16, 2025.
The court scheduled the matter for mention on September 29, 2025, for directions regarding the passport issue. The hearing will resume on October 22 and 23, 2025.
Khatwani was charged with stealing $2,786,174.40 (approximately Ksh 356,711,174.40) from OTCL, the money that came into his possession through his employment.
The alleged offence occurred at Babadogo in Nairobi County between January 1, 2020, and June 30, 2024.
The court heard that the funds belonged to OKI General Trading Limited and were allegedly stolen by Khatwani while he was a company director.
