A businesswoman based in Nairobi is facing two years in prison for withdrawing Sh271,200 that was mistakenly sent to her via mobile phone M-Pesa account.

Elizabeth Karimi Muthoni admitted to withdrawing the money when she appeared before Kibera Senior Principal Magistrate Philip Mutua on Monday.

The cash was wrongly sent to her M-Pesa line by Bakar Hussein Mohamed who hails from Kitengela in Kajiado County on July 14.

The court was told that Bakar was purchasing an M-Pesa Agent account but wrongly deposited the cash meant for the float to the agent account of Muthoni also from Kitengela.

He said Kenya Commercial Bank pledged to reverse the transaction and credit his account, but failed to do so after it emerged that the accused had already withdrawn the amount.

Read More

  1. Sh3.2 billion in M-Pesa accounts now in UFAA's hands as unclaimed funds mount
  2. M-Pesa clocks 34 million users in Kenya
  3. CMA approves safaricom's Ziidi Money Market Fund, expanding financial inclusion

But Muthoni told the court that she had only withdrawn part of the cash and had been in talks with Bakar with the intention of repaying him the amount already utilised.

The court fined her Sh200,000 after she pleaded guilty to the charges and she risks spending two years in jail if she fails to raise the fine meted by the court.