The fate of Family Bank and its former eight senior managers in Sh 1.6 billion NYS money laundering case now hangs in hands of Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji whether to allow the bank settle the matter out of court.
This is the third time for the bank approaching the DPP in the case against them relating to alleged money laundering involving the prime suspect in the NYS scam, Josephine Kabura.
The bank through defence lawyers Waweru Gatonye and lawyer Cecil Miller who are representing the bank Chief Executive officer John King'ori yesterday asked Milimani Senior Principal Martha Mutuku to give them two more weeks until December 17 to respond to a proposal by the DPP Noordin haji on their out of court settlement plea. DPP Noordin Haji
Gatonye informed that they received the proposal on Monday(December 3) and they have not had time to respond to the same.
The defence had lodged fresh negotiations to have the matter settled out of court after the first and second attempts flopped.
"The parties are seeking to settle the matter out of court and we urged the court to give us another time more to engage the different complainants from various government agencies as it has not been possible to conclude the negotiations but now we hope it will go through,” said Gatonye.
The first request was rejected by the than former DPP Keriako Tobiko, while the second one was rejected by the current DPP Haji.
It is said that Family bank has written several proposal letters to DPP, EACC, Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoronge and PS Public Works seeking to have the matter settle the matter out of court.
King'ori who is the current CEO of the bank has since pleaded to the charges on behalf of the bank as the eighth accused person.
In the case he is charged alongside former CEO Peter Munyiri ,KTDA Branch Manager Robert Oscar Nyaga, Anti-money compliance manager Charles Kamau Thiongo, Head of Risk and compliance Raphael Mutinda Ndunda, Operations Supervisor Nancy Njambi , Relationship Platinum manager Meldon Awino Onyango and Customer Service supervisor Josephine Wairi with failure to report significant transactions carried out by the chief suspect Josephine Kabura Irungu’s using three bank accounts held at the bank.
On November 2016 the former DPP Keriako Tobiko ordered seven former employees at Family Bank be charged with aiding or abetting money laundering as the several nations looked to tighten banking oversight. Former DPP Keriako Tobiko
All the accused persons in the case have denied the charges and were each released on a Sh 300,000 cash bail or Sh 1 million bond.
The charge sheet read that between December 22, 2014 and May 19 2015 at Family Bank Kenya Tea Development Authority branch in Nairobi, Munyiri and others failed to report money-laundering suspicions. Former Family Bank MD Peter Munyiri
The second charged states they that they failed to report unusual transactions relating to an account held by Josephine Kabura under the business name Reinforced Concrete Technologies.
They are also faced with another charge of failing to detect Kabura’s unusual money activities under the name of Roof and All Trading limited .
Other charges include not reporting money laundering activities and not filing Sh1 million cash transactions. The bank has already been fined Sh1 million for failing to report large transactions conducted by NYS suspect.