By ADEN KIPRUTO
A Standard Chartered Bank official struggled to explain in court how a fraudulent account was allegedly opened and operated by a third party under the guise of a company’s account without proper due diligence.
The court heard that the account was allegedly opened using the identity card of an unsuspecting individual, Nancy Nanjira Odhungo, 34, who is said to be of unsound mind and therefore incapable of operating the account.
The bank official, Amos Wambua, admitted before the court that the account in question was opened as a personal account and not for company transactions, contrary to earlier claims.
While testifying before Milimani Principal Magistrate Paul Mutai, Wambua acknowledged that no company resolution was presented at the time the account was opened.
“The account in the name of Nancy Nanjira Odhungo was opened as a personal account, not for the company’s transactions,” he told the court.
The disclosure emerged during the cross-examination of Wambua by defence lawyer Lewis Kanyoko in a case in which Brian Reeve Obare is accused of obtaining millions of shillings by false pretences.
Kanyoko produced before the court a psychiatric report from Nakuru County Referral and Teaching Hospital dated March 10, 2026, detailing Odhungo’s mental condition and raising questions about how she could have opened and operated the account.
According to the report, signed by Dr Wafula, Odhungo was assessed at the facility in 2016 and again in December 2024, with her condition found to have remained unchanged.
“Nancy Nanjira has an active schizoaffective disorder that is poorly managed. Therefore, she is not fit to testify in her current state and is advised to resume antipsychotic medication to suppress the symptoms,” Dr Wafula stated in the report.
The defence lawyer alleged that the account was opened by another individual using Odhungo’s identity card. He told the court that the email address and telephone number linked to the account belong to one of the directors of Golden Key Company, the firm that claims to have been defrauded.
“The alleged owner of the account is said to be of unsound mind. How could she have opened an account without disclosing that information? There is a possibility that another person impersonated her and presented suspicious documents to open the account,” Kanyoko submitted.
The lawyer further argued that Golden Key Company lacks a bank account capable of substantiating its claim as the complainant in the case, in which it alleges that it lost more than Sh50 million in a Canadian visa scam.
The matter is set to proceed before the court.
