How secure is your safety deposit box?

PHOTO | COURTESY Robbers broke into the strong room of Giro Bank’s Parklands branch using gas welders and gained access to the safety deposit boxes.

What you need to know:

  • A perusal of the contract signed between Giro Bank and the safety deposit renters—who paid a deposit of Sh100,000 for the boxes—is silent on what would happen in case of loss or damage of the stored items

Five families are headed for a ground-breaking court case with a Nairobi bank over the fate of their valuables worth millions of shillings stolen while in the bank’s custody.

The families had separately rented safety deposit boxes to store cash, jewellery and keepsakes handed down through generations which disappeared during a robbery at Giro Bank’s Parklands branch.

Branch manager Jabin Ahmed said the robbers broke into the strong room on April 23 using gas welders, sledge hammers and other heavy tools and gained access to the safety deposit boxes.

The burglary was reported to the Gigiri Police Station, and following investigations four suspects were arrested and charged in court. They appeared before Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Lucy Mbugua on May 9.

However, the valuables have not been recovered, and the affected families are holding the bank responsible for the losses. On May 13, they wrote to the bank saying they could not afford to lose their lives’ savings and demanded an explanation on what would happen next.

On May 24, Mr Ahmed assured the anxious clients that the bank was following up the matter with the police. He advised them to “desist from making assumptions or drawing conclusions but to forward any information they might have to the police”.

But speaking to the Sunday Nation on condition of anonymity, the affected families said they wanted the bank to take responsibility for their loss and offer some form of compensation because the bank had not required them to insure the items.

“I have encouraged my daughter to work hard and keep her jewellery here as some form of saving. Now her items have been stolen along with some of mine that were handed to me by my mother. Our family has lost at least Sh4 million worth of jewellery,” one of the renters said.

A perusal of the contract signed between Giro Bank and the safety deposit renters—who paid a deposit of Sh100,000 for the boxes—is silent on what would happen in case of loss or damage of the stored items.

The burglary also raises questions about the sanctity of safety deposit boxes since most banks are normally not aware of what renters stash in their vaults.

Guns or explosives

A client is only required to declare that they aren’t going to store dangerous items such as guns or explosives.

In his letters to the renters, Mr Ahmed invited them to supply details of the stolen items to the bank and detectives assigned to the case. On June 12, the Sunday Nation wrote to Giro Bank’s General Manager Sanjay Gidoomal seeking answers, but the GM had not replied by the time we went to press.

Gigiri CID chief Peter Mungai told the Sunday Nation that they had conducted vigorous investigations, but he declined to comment further citing the pending court case against the four suspects.