A man charged with stealing Sh400,000 has told a Nairobi court that he thought he had won a lottery.
Jared Atambo, a farmer denied the charges before the Milimani chief magistrate.
Atambo told the court that he thought he had won a lottery when he received the money because he has been participating in three lotteries.
"Your honour I didn't know I was handling somebody else's money, I thought I had won one of the lotteries I have been actively engaged in," Atambo said.
Atambo allegedly committed the offence between May 27 and July 2022 at an unknown place within the country.
According to the prosecution report, the account holder Henry Thuita who lives in the United States alerted the bank that there was a fraudulent mobile transaction in his bank account when he visited the country in July.
Police investigations revealed that the mobile number became inactive when the account holder moved to the US, so Safaricom recycled it and awarded it to Atambo.
It is alleged that the accused accessed the bank account by dialling *667# through the said number and withdrew the amount within a period of two months.
He is out on a cash bail of Sh200,000 or a bond of Sh400,000.
The case will be mentioned on November 21.
