A former bursar was yesterday charged with 72 counts of defrauding an institution of Sh14,040,820.
Sylvester Washiali was alleged to have forged the signature of St Mary’s Girls High School principal Rosemary Adema on diverse dates between December 22, 2016 and December 22, 2017.
Chief Magistrate Bildad Ochieng’ heard that Washiali fraudulently cashed 67 cheques at Kenya Commercial and Cooperative banks where the school operated accounts.
The bursar was suspended by the school’s board of management on December 30, 2017 over discipline and trust issues.
Ms Adema visited the KCB branch on January 3 last year to report that Washiali was no longer an account signatory but later in the day, the bursar showed up seeking to cash a school cheque.
This prompted the branch manager to alert the principal.After carefully scrutinising the submitted cheque, bank officials established that the signature was forged.
Washiali was arrested and later charged at the Mumias Law Court.
An audit of the school accounts revealed that the institution had lost millions of shillings. Mr Ochieng’ ordered that the matter be heard by four different magistrates between May 13 and June 13.