Equity Bank employee charged over alleged plot to steal through duplicated system profiles

Equity Bank employee Ian Muhia Maina at Milimani Law Courts, where he was charged with allegedly hacking the bank’s system. [Nancy Gitonga, Standard]

An Equity Bank employee has been charged over an alleged scheme to manipulate the lender’s banking system by duplicating two user profiles in a suspected theft plot.

Ian Muhia Maina appeared before the Milimani magistrate Irene Thamara on Friday, where he denied three charges linked to alleged unauthorised access to the bank’s computer system.

The prosecution accuses Maina of conspiracy to commit a felony, attempted stealing by servant and unauthorised access to a computer system.

According to the charge sheet, the alleged offences were committed on diverse dates between May 2026 and October 21, 2026, at an unknown location within Kenya, jointly with other persons who have not been brought before the court.

Investigators allege that Maina duplicated two user profiles, identified as VM53601 and BC 23924, on Equity Bank’s Finacle banking platform.

The prosecution claims the alleged duplication was intended to facilitate theft from the financial institution.

One of the charges accuses Maina of unauthorised access to a computer system belonging to Equity Bank Limited, contrary to Section 14(1) of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.

The charge sheet states that he allegedly secured access to the bank’s system by duplicating the two Finacle user profiles, with the intention of committing a further offence of theft.

“On diverse dates between May 2026 to 21 October 2026 at unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, Maina with others not before court you secured unauthorised access to a computer system belonging to Equity Bank Limited by duplicating Finacle user profiles VM53601 and BC 23924 with intent to commit a further offence, namely Theft,” the charge sheet reads in part.

He is also accused of attempted stealing by servant, contrary to Section 281 as read with Section 389 of the Penal Code.

The prosecution alleges that, acting jointly with other suspects who are yet to be presented before the court, Maina duplicated the profiles within the bank’s system with the intention of stealing from the institution.

The third count accuses him of conspiracy to commit a felony, contrary to Section 393 of the Penal Code.

Prosecutors allege that Maina conspired with the other suspects to commit the alleged offence of attempted stealing by servant during the period specified in the charge sheet.

The charge sheet states "that he allegedly conspired to commit a felony, namely attempted stealing by servant by duplicating the Finacle user profiles VM53601 and BC 23924 in the Equity Bank (K) Limited banking system.”

Finacle is a banking platform used by financial institutions to manage banking operations, including customer accounts and transactions.

 User profiles are assigned permissions that determine the functions individuals can access within a system.

The allegations against Maina concern the alleged duplication of the same two profiles, with the three counts addressing unauthorised access, attempted theft and conspiracy.

Maina was arrested on October 21, 2026, and was presented in court on Friday, October 23.

He was released on a cash bail of Sh200,000 or an alternative bond of Sh600,000 as he awaits further proceedings.

The case will be mentioned after 14 days for a pre-trial hearing.