Stanbic Bank and its chief executive officer Joshua Oigara have accused the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) of abusing criminal powers over summons issued to the lender over millions that were deposited in an airline’s bank account and later reversed.

The lender moved to court last week seeking to stop the DCI and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga from instituting charges against Mr Oigara, its directors, or staff in a row with Air Afrik Aviation Ltd.

The bank argued that the DCI through the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit is seeking to investigate a matter that is pending before the High Court.

The lender says the matter was investigated in 2016 by the Central Bank of Kenya, after a complaint by the airline and parties allegedly advised to resolve the issue amicably or pursue a civil case.

“That this honourbale court be pleased to issue a conservatory order staying the execution or implementation or the requisition to compel attendance addressed to the 2nd petitioner (Mr Oigara) by the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit of the 1st respondent, pending the inter-partes hearing and determination of this application,” the lender said through lawyer Kamau Karori.

In response, the managing director of Air Afrik Mr Eric Lugalia said the lender cannot stop police from doing its work.

“That it is only in the interest of justice that if the petitioners/applicants do not have anything to hide, let them answer the issued summons thereof,” said Mr Lugalia.

The airline was a customer of the bank and operated an account at its Juba Branch in South Sudan.

On February 5, 2016, it received a credit note from the Bank of South Sudan (BoSS), advising it that the airline’s clearing and settlement account and BoSS had been credited with $7,22 million (about Sh931 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 (Sh141 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 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 bank said BFIU issued the summons for Mr Oigara to appear for an interview and record a statement on October 17.

Mr Karori said the timing of the requisition is suspicious coming a week after the applicant (Stanbic) opened its defence in the matter pending before the High Court.

The bank is seeking an order blocking the summons and stopping the DPP from recommending the prosecution or instituting any criminal charges against Mr Oigara or the bank directors, staff, or employees.

Mr Karori said the purported statement taking is intended to harass and intimidate the lender and hinder its ability to defend the proceedings pending before the court.

The requisition is also intended for ulterior purposes of embarrassing the 1st petitioner and coercing them to abandon the defence of the civil suit or settle the matter. Either way, the proceedings are certainly an abuse of the criminal process.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *