Honey Khatwani before a Milimani magistrate's courtA Nairobi-based Indian businessman charged with
stealing Sh356 million from a company where he worked as a director used the
cash to start and stabilize his own business, a court heard on Thursday.
Honey Khatwani was in June charged with stealing Sh356 million from Oki General Trading Limited, where he worked as a director.
While testifying in the matter on Thursday, complainant Deepak Rajoria told Milimani senior principal magistrate Dolphina Alego that Khatwani misappropriated company funds and used the proceeds to build his own company.
Khatwani had served as a director of the Baba Dogo-based company until he formally resigned on July 15, 2024. Rajoria said before his resignation, Khatwani had transferred all his shares at the company.
Rajoria was an employee of the company’s main outlet in Dubai until December 2024, when he was moved to Kenya and appointed director in January.
Upon his appointment as director, he commissioned a forensic audit of the company’s financial operations and accounts after he found funds were missing.
“The audit unearthed massive misappropriation, including fake invoices and company funds being deposited into the accused personal account,” Rajoria said.
He told the court that Khatwani, using his position then as company director, had instructed other employees to make deposits not to the company accounts but to his personal account.
“He was receiving company funds in his own account. From there, the funds were sometimes sent to an M-Pesa number belonging to his wife,” Rajoria said.
The witness said Khatwani used the funds to start his own company called Galaxy Middle East Limited, which he co-founded with another former employee of Oki General Trading Limited.
The company was started sometime in 2022 when Khatwani was still working as a director at Oki General Trading Limited.
“As a director, he had access to company money and all documents of authority from which he made fake invoices. We found that money was being fraudulently transferred to his own personal account, Galaxy account and M-Pesa account,” Rajoria said.
Rajoria is the first witness to testify in the matter. Further hearing will proceed on September 26, 2025.
Khatwani was on June 23, charged with stealing Sh356 million from Oki General Trading Limited, where he worked as a director.
He pleaded not guilty to the theft and was released on bond with tough conditions, including depositing his passport in court.
Khatwani is an Indian national who lives in Kenya with his family and worked as a director at Oki General Trading Limited in Baba Dogo within Ruaraka constituency.
The charge sheet shows that on diverse dates between January 2020 and June 2024, being a director at Oki General Trading Limited, he stole Sh356,711,174.4, the property of the firm, which came into his possession by virtue of his employment.
