The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a manager at Equity Bank who is alleged to have stolen over Sh1.6 billion from the bank deepened yesterday after he failed to appear in court for the mention of the case.

David Machiri Kimani was arrested on August 4, and brought to court under a miscellaneous application where police Inspector Boniface Mwangi who is attached to the Banking Fraud Unit pleaded with the court to be granted 21 days to hold him pending the conclusion of investigations into the alleged bank heist. 

The court however rejected the request and proceeded to release the suspect on a Sh500,000 bond on condition that he surrenders his travel documents to the court. He was further required to report twice a week to the DCI officer investigating the matter.

He was expected to appear in court yesterday for the mention of the case and for the court to confirm compliance with its orders but he was nowhere to be seen, with his lawyers Ndegwa Njiru and Alex Gakuru instead appearing to represent him. Njiru urged the Milimani Senior Resident Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo to issue an order requiring the police to produce Kimani in court, whether dead or alive, insisting that he had been abducted.

“Your honor, my client is not present in court today since he was abducted.”