A Nairobi family has dragged Equity Bank to court, claiming more than Ksh 10 million disappeared from their fixed deposit account through a suspect court process they say they knew nothing about.
Siblings Isaac Kennedy Mwangi, Mary Karanja and Joseph Kinuthia have filed a suit at the Milimani Law Courts against Equity Bank Kenya, Marina Group Limited and Lucy W. Muturi.
Through lawyer charles Mugane, they accuse the three of using a well-coordinated fraudulent scheme to drain Ksh 10,464,725 from a fixed deposit account they jointly held with their father, David Kariuki Karangi, at Equity’s Ngong Branch.
According to the court papers, the account was opened in September 2024 with about Ksh 10.47 million.
The family only discovered the money was gone in July 2025, when Isaac went to Equity’s Kitengela Branch to check the balance and was told the funds had been paid out under a garnishee order from a case in Embu law courts
The family says the Embu case is riddled with red flags.
Marina Group allegedly sued the estate of Karangi in November 2024, even though he was alive at the time and only died later in February 2025.
They deny ever receiving farm machinery said to be the basis of a Ksh 19.8 million debt and insist a debt agreement produced in court is fake, saying their father used a thumbprint, not a written signature.
What has really put Equity on the spot, however, is how the money left the account.
The Embu consent and decree reportedly targeted a specific account number at Ngong Branch.
Yet on 14 December 2024, Equity allegedly debited a completely different fixed deposit account, the family’s,and wired Ksh 10.46 million to Marina Group’s lawyers.
“We were never involved whatsoever during the said court proceedings nor by the bank prior to the release of our monies,” Isaac says in his ourt papers, accusing the lender of failing to protect their funds.
In the Milimani case, the siblings accuse Marina Group and Lucy Muturi of fraud, and Equity Bank of negligence, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty.
They want the three defendants held jointly liable and ordered to refund the full amount, with interest and costs.
