Stanbic Bank has struck a deal with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and withdrawn a petition it had filed seeking to stop the police from investigating a long-drawn feud over millions that were deposited in an airline’s bank account and later reversed.
The lender withdrew the case after the DCI agreed to drop the investigations initiated against it last year, following a complaint by Air Afrik Limited that cash was wired into its bank account in South Sudan but later frozen by Stanbic.
However, in an agreement on April 7 and later adopted by High Court judge Bahati Mwamuye, the DCI agreed not to pursue the lender, its chief executive Joshua Oigara, or any of its directors and employees, over a complaint filed by Air Afrik Ltd.
“The petition and all pending interlocutory applications be withdrawn by consent of the petitioner and interested party in this petition as the substantive parties in dispute before the court,” said the consent.
The agreement further said the police would not initiate charges or accusations against the bank and its officials or employees in the future, over the credit note issued by the Bank of South Sudan (BoSS).
The airline was a customer of the bank and operated an account at its Juba branch, in South Sudan.
It is alleged that on February 5, 2016, the bank received a credit note from BoSS, advising it that the airline’s clearing and settlement account and BoSS had been credited with $7.22 million (about Sh933.11 million). The lender went ahead and credited Air Afrik’s bank account with the amount.
Stanbic said it later realised that no actual funds had been remitted by BoSS as alleged, and it was forced to reverse the funds to prevent further withdrawals since the funds ‘were paid in error’”.
Air Afrik then 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 Central Bank of Kenya (CBK).
In October last year, the DCI summoned Mr Oigara to appear for an interview and record a statement.
Through senior counsel Kamau Karori, the lender said the subject matter of the requisition pertains to the very matters that were the subject of the investigations that were concluded on December 6, 2016, more than 9 years ago. He added that the dispute was also subject to an ongoing court case.
Mr Karori said the purported statement-taking was intended to harass and intimidate the lender and hinder its ability to defend the proceedings pending before the court.
