Female leader of car theft syndicate arrested

A woman suspected to be a member of a car theft syndicate that has been hiring high-end vehicles before fraudulently transferring the car’s ownership to themselves to use in obtaining credit facilities from lenders has been charged with forgery.

Ms Emily Wanjiku Kimani has been charged with forgery contrary to section 345 of the penal code as read with section 349 of the criminal procedure code.

Ms Kimani is accused of forging a logbook bearing registration number KDA 005M purporting it to be a genuine logbook issued by the Directorate of Registration and Licensing at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

She is accused of colluding with others at large to commit the offence on unknown dates in June 2022.

The suspect is also facing a second charge of uttering a false document contrary to section 353 of the penal code where she is accused of knowingly and fraudulently uttering a forged logbook to a financial institution in Ruiru, Kiambu County on April 20 this year.

She is accused of presenting the fake logbook at the Keep Vision and Growth Credit Limited purporting it to be a genuine logbook issued by the NTSA.

The suspect was additionally charged with unauthorized access contrary to section 14 (1) of the computer misuse and Cybercrimes Act of 2018 by temporarily causing a computer system to perform functions.

In the charge, she is accused of infringing security measures with intent to gain access where she allegedly changed the registration of a motor vehicle – KDA 055M from the registered owner Bernard Kaniu Kariuki to Ann Njeri Kimangu.

Police believe some NTSA officials have been involved in the syndicate, particularly in transferring the motor vehicle registration from the registered owners to the suspects and Ms Kimani has been tasked with hiring the cars from dealers before the fraudulent transfers are effected.

Ms Kimani is suspected to have been working with Ms Kimangu who was charged at the same court with similar offences on April 24th.

Ms Kimani hired the car – a Toyota Prado – from a leasing company on April 18th and after promising the company director that she would return it after three days.

She was charged a fee of Sh10, 000 per day and she paid through Mpesa.

But on April 20th, her accomplice, Ms Kimangu was arrested with the car together with her driver who has been listed as a witness against her.

Ms Kimangu recorded a statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) at the NTSA offices where she confessed that the vehicle does not belong to her and the names used to register it were not hers.

She gave her name as Caroline Pauline Njoki and was arraigned before court where she denied the charges. She was released on a bond of Sh200,000.

She told investigators that she had been recruited into the syndicate by Ms Kimani.

Ms Kimani also denied the charges before Chief Magistrate Francis Kyambia. She was granted a bond of Sh200, 000. Hearing of the case starts on September 6.

Three other suspects involved in the fraud where financial institutions have incurred losses running into millions after discovering the cars used as securities were fraudulently obtained were denied bail and bonds and locked up.

They are Alex Munyiri Karuri, Catherine Njoki Ndung’u alias Carolyne Wambui Maina and Daniel Mwangi Mucheru who were locked up by Principal Magistrate Eric Mutunga of Makadara Law Courts after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) made an application for the same.

Detective Abdirizak Ali of DCI NTSA offices filed an affidavit to oppose bail and bond terms for them.