Students charged with hacking, stealing cash from NCBA Bank

Two university students have been charged at Milimani Law Courts for stealing Sh25 million from NCBA Bank through hacking. They are also said to have attempted to steal an additional Sh190.7 million from the same bank.

The second-year students at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Carolyne Muthoni. The prosecution claims the offences were committed between October 20 and 22, 2020.

Antony Mwangi Ngige, 23, and Ann Wambui Nyoike, 21, were accused of committing the crime together with others who were not before the court. 

Lenient bail 
Details of the offences state that the suspects colluded to steal Sh25.4 million from NCBA Upper Hill’s head office.
The defence through lawyer Arunda Oichoe tried to reason with the court for a lenient bail because the suspects are students.

Oichoe sought for a Sh100, 000 cash bail telling the court that one of the accused had taken it upon himself to inform the bank that their systems had a weak link that could be exploited.

“It is the first accused (Ngige) who initiated his prosecution process by informing bank authorities that there was a hitch in its system,” explained the suspect's lawyer.

Suspect used Twitter to inform bank
According to the defence, Ngige reached out to the bank through Twitter and was subsequently sent an SMS after the bank failed to respond imperatively. After the SMS, Ngige was summoned to appear at the bank for an inquiry. 
Oichoe stated that his client is a whistle-blower who has now been made a suspect.

Even though the prosecution did not object to the request of bail, it asked the court to consider the amount involved in the offence and impose a huge penalty.

The two were released on a Sh500, 000 cash bail or a Sh2 million bond each.

Magistrate Muthoni instructed that the case will be mentioned virtually on November 10, 2020.