A former bank teller, a city merchant and two others were charged on Tuesday with stealing more than Sh2.8 million from the bank accounts of a deceased man through sim swap fraud.

Eutycus Muguna Mutembei and Ayugu Eugene Shivachi, however, denied the 13 counts they were charged with at the Milimani Law Courts.

According to State Prosecutor Anderson Gikunda, the two cybercrime suspects accessed the bank accounts of the late Amos Ngatia Muiruri, who died in November 2020, using a computer.

The suspects are said to have then accessed Muiruri’s bank accounts at NCBA Bank, Equity Bank and KCB Bank and withdrawn the cash late last year.

Appearing before Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku, the two suspects were charged together with a taxi driver and his wife for preparing to commit a felony.

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The foursome was apprehended at Makuyu in Murang’a County and police retrieved 47 Safaricom sim cards registered under different names of mobile phone subscribers.

However, the four suspects denied the offences.

Mutembei and Shivachi were released on a cash bail of Sh500,000 each in the theft case and Sh200,000 cash bail each for the charge of being found with many sim cards illegally.

The cases is set for mention on March 3.