A civil society organization has appealed to the authorities in Lakes State to transfer detained KCB staff to police – a call the government rejects.
“It is a criminal in nature, but it does not warrant to detention at the military detention facility,” said Daniel Laat Kon, coordinator of the Community Empowerment Progress Organization in Rumbek.
In October, two senior staff of the Kenyan Commercial Bank or KCB were arrested and taken to the Panda Hotel Military Barrack over missing money.
These are the KCB Rumbek branch manager, Manyang Muorwel; and the operations manager, Jacob Mabor Agany, who were thrown in after they could not account for $163,000. The men have been in illegal detention since then.
Laat argued that the bankers belong in a police cell, not military holding facility.
“People that are supposed to be detained at a military facility are people that have committed crimes related to guns,” Laat stated.
“Misappropriation or embezzlement of funds it is something that you should go to police for and then let police do the investigations.”
Daniel explained that the army, which is holding the KCB staff, cannot resolve the issue, adding that they should be taken to court to answer to charges.
However, the state minister of information states that investigations are ongoing at the Panda Hotel Military barrack. He claims that the men are being held at the detention in an attempt to protect them from possible angry bank customers.
“Who says there is no investigations going on? These are people who stole a lot of money – money which belongs to civilians,” Paul Chabiet Anyang said.
“They have caused insecurity for themselves and the state government. The civil society group does not understand this matter. They should understand the security measures.’’