Four employees of Equity Bank in Rubavu District are under investigation in connection with theft of US$88100 (about Rwf75 million), withdrawn from an account of one of the bank clients.

The quartet, including the branch operation manager, two cashiers and an accountant, were taken into custody on January 27 following a complaint filed by the victim and subsequent Police investigations.

"On January 15, a woman opened a dollars’ account in the same branch and deposited US$100 on it; the following day the same woman turned up with a transfer request of US$88100 said to be authorised by the victim, and preliminary investigations point at the quartet to have had a hand or involved in the whole theft process,” Chief Inspector of Police Eulade Gakwaya, the Police spokesperson for the Western Province, said.

The suspects argue that the transfer was confirmed by the victim through a phone call, but investigations have so far coincided with the victim’s statement, whose Rwandan line they say they called was off as he was also out of the country at the time.

Hanington Namara, the MD of Equity Bank declined to give any details, saying the matter is under investigation by police and relevant authorities. "I can not at this time confirm any details since we don’t know yet all facts.”

"Investigations so far indicate that the number the suspects allege they called is not even the number the victim gave the bank to contact him on any business related to his account. Investigations are still underway to also identify who exactly that said woman is to build a conclusive case and to forward the dossier to prosecution,” CIP Gakwaya said.

He advised financial institutions against giving out big sums of money from clients’ accounts without "proving beyond doubt” that the account holder authorised it.

"People should be careful; you should be very sure that what you are doing is the right thing, and follow instructions or procedures laid out by clients,” he added.

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