Simon Billy Kinuthia
Two Safaricom employees, Simon Billy Kinuthia and Brian Njoroge Wamatu, allegedly conspired to extort Sh300 million from the company by threatening to leak sensitive subscriber data, a senior detective told the court.
The alleged offenses, uncovered between May 1 and June 7, 2019, involved accomplice Benedict Kabugi Ndung’u, who received Sh50,000 in a sting operation before arrests were made. Key evidence, including phones and laptops, was presented as the case proceeded.
Testifying before Milimani Chief Magistrate Wendy Kagendo, Assistant Superintendent of Police Peter Maina detailed how the employees, in collaboration with Benedict Kabugi Ndung’u, demanded the funds to prevent the public release of privileged information.
“The first two accused, who are seated in the dock, had demanded about Sh300 million from Safaricom Kenya Limited, saying they would expose the data to the public,” Officer Maina said.
He told the court that they lodged investigations into the matter after receiving information from the telecommunications regulator head of Ethic Compliance, Patrick Kinoti, that there was one person by the name of Benedict Kabugi Ndung’u who sent him a sample of the privileged data that he believed was staff of the company.
Kabugi is also jointly charged with Kinuthia and Wamatu with demanding money by menaces and computer fraud. Maina told the court that Kabugi was requesting the money on behalf of his two co-accused, based on the information he had received from Kinoti.
Maina informed the court that Kinoti, on behalf of Safaricom, to protect the information from being put to the public, sent Kabugi a sum of Sh 50,000.
“Upon receiving the information, we laid a trap, and we managed to arrest the said Kabugi at a club in Westlands along Waiyaki Way. It was through intelligence information and with the help of members of the public,” the officer said
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The court heard that Kabugi, during his arrest at the said club, of which he did not mention the name, was in the company of one Charles Njuguna Kimani.
Maina said that they arrested Kinuthia at the club while unlawfully copying and transferring privileged Safaricom subscriber’s data information from the telecommunications regulator database to an unauthorized person, namely Njuguna, in contravention of the said Act.
He further stated that following the arrest of Kabugi and Kinuthia and intensive interrogation at DCI headquarters, they revealed that they got the secret Safaricom data from two of its employees.
The two, however, helped the officers to the arrest of the two Safaricom employees at a club in Kilimani known as Grill House.
The accused person’s phones, two laptops, and hard drives that were recovered from them during arrest produce the same as exhibits in the matter.
The hearing was adjourned to February 16 and 17.
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