Equity Bank Manager David Machiri Kimani.
It’s been one month since Mr David Machiri Kimani - the prime suspect in Equity Bank’s Sh1.5 billion heist - was abducted by armed gunmen from his rented house in Thogoto, Kiambu.
Mr Machiri, 39, Equity Bank’s manager at the Group Processing Center, Salary Processing Unit, whose credentials detectives say was used to steal Sh1,545,887,140.49, has never been seen since the Sunday, August 11 abduction.
At Madukani, Thogoto under the overpass towards Mutarakwa, is a rough road that leads to an apartment painted purple with a black steel gate.
On a visit on Wednesday to the address where the banker lived in the rental house with his wife and a child, according to neighbours, Nation learnt after he was taken away, no one has been to the house.
“Hata huyo madam me sijawaimuona tena kutoka hiyo siku (I have never seen his madam at the house after the incident took place),” a neighbour told Nation.Africa on Wednesday.
According to neighbours, Mr Machiri used to live alone but at some point, he brought the woman who was usually seen with a child inside her car as she drove within Thogoto Town.
Mr Machiri had lived in Thogoto Town since 2021 without incident.
That however changed that fateful Sunday night when a convoy of five strange vehicles drove into the neighbourhood.
All three Subaru Outbacks, a Landrover Defender and a Toyota Land Cruiser had no number plates.
One of the vehicles was parked outside the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) St Matthew Thogoto Church.
The others were parked strategically around where the banker resided.
At about 11:40 pm the armed men stormed his house and led him to one of the cars.
“When we intervened to know who those people were, they identified themselves as police officers,” recalled a neighbour. They never disclosed where they were taking him.
One of the abductors was spotted carting away a laptop. The operation took no more than three minutes. The vehicles sped away.
That same night, another squad of armed men raided the home of the banker’s father, Joseph Kimari Machiri, 60, at Kairi village, Mathioya Constituency in Murang'a.
It was only until Nation broke the story of the Sh1.5 billion bank heist on Thursday, August 15, in which police named the banker as a suspect, that his neighbours at Thogoto made sense of the night raid.
Although he had been arrested and charged in court on July 12, a day after the theft was reported, the proceedings had been secret and he had been released on bail without the matter becoming public knowledge after the abduction weeks later.
One of his friends who used to hang out with him at a local joint said the banker was generous but secretive.
“He regularly bought us drinks and food. He was a good friend,” recounted a friend who declined to be identified for the fear the issue has instilled in locals.
The man said at times, Machiri would purchase drinks from a wines and spirits outlet on Sundays and park his vehicle in an open field located along the busy Northern Bypass. They would enjoy drinks there.
“We would sit on the grass and he would share with us his drinks,” added the friend. This was mostly in the afternoons after he had returned from church with his family.
However, according to the friend, Mr Machiri was guarded and he is not aware of anyone within his circle of friends who he ever invited to his house.
Another friend said Mr Machiri did not like staying out at night in a club. “He would tell us that he would rather go home and watch football,” he said.
The banker’s father, however, was freed on Tuesday, August 13, two days after his abduction.
But his captors warned him to never speak to the media or divulge details of his ordeal in captivity.
When Nation.Africa contacted him last week, he said: “I am glad to be alive and okay. I just don't have much to say but we appreciate the concern shown to me and my family.”
When asked to give details of what he went through while in the hands of his abductors, Mr Kimari declined to revisit his ordeal.
“When the right time comes, we will call you and talk about it. As we talk, I am travelling to Nairobi to run a few errands so I cannot talk much,” he added.
A family source told Nation.Africa that he was brought back home at 3 am in a convoy of more than five Subaru cars which are mostly used by officers attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The source said that the man was warned not to share any information with the media or give details of what happened to him while in captivity.
“He told us that he was taken to a forest which he does not know its location and he could hear lions roaring and hyenas laughing,” said the family source, adding that the experience he went through has affected him.
For days until he spoke to Nation.Africa to confirm he was free, the family had opted to comply with the orders citing the threats.
Mr Machiri was first arrested in July and charged in court with defrauding Equity Bank Sh1.5 billion. He was released on bail and subsequently abducted on August 11.
When the alleged fraud took place on July 10, he was on leave but the bank reported that it was his credentials that were used to move the cash to various accounts in 47 transactions.
According to court papers, on July 10, the internal control department detected a flurry of suspect transactions from the bank’s salaries account.
According to the DCI, there were 47 withdrawals from the bank’s payroll account and the funds were quickly transferred to multiple accounts held in other banks.
All the transactions lacked corresponding credits from the source entities or individuals, which raised suspicion from the internal controls team reviewing the transactions for confirmation details.
After all the transactions were successfully processed, Sh1.5 billion had been funnelled out of Equity Bank.
On July 11, the bank through the Head of Security Kevin Mwangi reported the matter to the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit at the DCI.
Machiri, the manager whose electronic footprints were noted in the transactions, was summoned to record statements with the police.
Machiri was on leave when the suspicious activities were first detected, according to an affidavit filed at the Milimani Law court on July 12 by the investigating officer, Inspector Boniface Maina, attached to the DCI Banking Fraud Investigations Unit.
The DCI wanted the court’s permission to detain Machiri for 21 days to allow further investigations.
However, the court declined the application and freed Machiri on bond.
He was subsequently abducted by hooded men from his house in Thogoto, Kiambu.
