Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has said his office will target banks and their staff for their involvement in the handling of funds lost from the National Youth Service.

The DPP said on Thursday his office will also go after individuals found to have facilitated the transactions, including bank tellers, very soon.

“Very soon, once those investigations are complete, you will see the banks being prosecuted,” he said as quoted by Reuters Africa.

“Not only the banks. We are also going to go for the tellers and the managers who authorised those huge withdrawals because our argument is they must have been part of the conspiracy to allow such huge withdrawals.”

In addition to the 43 suspects who have since been charged in Court, authorities are also investigating 10 financial institutions suspected of handling the stolen NYS funds.

The DPP said the next phase of prosecutions into the loss of Sh8 billion will show that at least half of the amount was dubious and will result in prosecutions for those responsible.

He said the amounts they were investigating could rise if they found that profits were generated by businesses that used the stolen funds.

“The figures might grow or shrink a little. But even before looking at the other aspect that I have told you, probably more than half of the Sh8 billion pending bills are questionable,” he said.

“We have only looked at only one branch within NYS. And there are other branches that we are looking at and investigations are going on.”