Stanbic Bank chief executive officer (CEO) Joshua Oigara has been summoned by the public prosecutor following a dispute over millions of shillings deposited in an airline’s bank account and later reversed.
The South Sudan’s Public Prosecution Attorney issued the summons for the bank CEO to appear before him ‘to answer or defend’ himself for charges that may be brought against him in a dispute with Air Afrik Aviation Ltd.
The airline’s managing director Eric Lugalia filed a complaint against Stanbic Bank.
“Since complainant, Eric Agolla Lugalia has complained against you. You are hereby requested to appear before the Public Prosecution Attorney on December 19, 2024, to answer or defend yourself for any offence that you will be charged under Section 110 of the South Sudan Penal Code Act, 2008,” the summons read.
The bank acknowledged receipt of the summons and questioned why it was being served eight years after the alleged transactions took place.
“We affirm that we will engage with the Public Attorney’s office as per the laid-out guidelines. Equally, it is our expectation that the office of the Public Prosecution Attorney in South Sudan will act in good faith and respect the constitutional and statutory rights of the bank and its staff in South Sudan as it carries out its mandate,” the lender said.
Stanbic Bank added, “It is the bank’s view that the summons and related actions constitute an attempt at harassment and intimidation of bank by the counterparties in the ongoing civil matter.”
The directive comes a few days after Mr Oigara and other senior Stanbic officials obtained court orders blocking summonses from the Banking Fraud Investigation Unit over the same matter.
High Court judge Bahati Mwamuye further blocked the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga from instituting criminal charges against Mr Oigara or any directors, staff, or employees of Stanbic, pending the hearing of the case.
The bank argued that the DCI was seeking to investigate a matter that was pending before the High Court.
The airline was a customer of the bank and operated an account at its Juba branch in South Sudan.
On February 5, 2016, the bank received a credit note from the Bank of South Sudan (BoSS) advising it that the airline’s clearing and settlement account at the central bank had been credited with $7.22 million (about Sh932.28 million).
The lender credited Air Afrik’s bank account with the amount.
Stanbic said the airline allegedly carried out large value transactions on its account and withdrew a total of $1.1 million (Sh142.03 million).
The lender said it later realised that no actual funds had been remitted by BoSS as alleged and reversed the funds to prevent further withdrawals since the funds ‘were paid in error”.
The airline sought to be paid damages for losses suffered after a plane leasing contract of $20 million (Sh2.58 billion) with the South Sudan government was terminated after the funds were withheld.
The parties then unsuccessfully tried to resolve the dispute before Air Afrik complained to the CBK.
The proceedings at the High Court have since been suspended, pending an appeal filed by the lender, after Justice Nixon Sifuna declined to recuse himself from the matter.
Justices Mumbi Ngugi, Pauline Nyamweya, and Weldon Korir suspended the proceedings and set to give a ruling on March 21, 2025.
