Ex-bank boss, two others acquitted in Sh1.6 billion NYS case – The Star Kenya

A Nairobi court has freed former Family Bank CEO Peter Munyiri and two other senior ex-managers who had been accused of Sh791 million in money laundering for lack of evidence.
While acquitting the former officials on Friday, chief magistrate Francis Andayi held that Family Bank was responsible for the huge suspicious transactions made by NYS prime suspect Josephine Kabura.
This, he said, was after its Anti-money compliance manager Charles Kamau Thiongo failed to report to the Central Bank of Kenya as was required. 
The court, however, found Thiongo guilty of the three offences of abetting and aiding Kabura to launder money through the bank and failing to report suspicious transactions involving Sh1.6 billion.
The magistrate sentenced Thiongo to pay a fine of Sh750,000 and in default to serve three years in jail. 
In his judgement, the magistrate concurred with Munyiri’s lawyer Kioko Kilukumi that no evidence was availed by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to show that him being the CEO of the bank was responsible to report the suspicious huge transactions made by Kabura.
“I find that Munyiri and his two co-accused persons were not given any role of reporting the suspicious transactions by their employer. According to evidence placed before me, the role was bestowed on Thiongo who l find was capable of committing the offences,” Andayi said.
He, however, acquitted them of all the charges they faced under section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code and ordered their cash bail, which they had deposited with the court be released to them. 
However, the bank which was also an accused person in the matter was discharged from the case on May 1, 2019, after the court fined it Sh64.5 million.
This followed the pleading guilty to six counts of failing to report suspicious transactions involving Sh1.6 billion made by Kabura.
Magistrate Andayi fined the bank after it pleaded to the charges through its representative John Muchiri Kingo’ri ( head of security) who was appointed by the bank’s board of directors.    
According to the plea bargaining agreement filed in court the bank was to pay a fine of Sh6.6 million per each count as charged, to have the charges against it dropped.
During the defence hearing of the case, lawyer Kilukumi took the court through how Kabura received Sh791,610,000 using three business names at Family Bank’s Kenya Tea Development Authority Branch in Nairobi county between December 22, 2014, and May 15, 2015.
“The monies were received at the Family Bank KTDA branch. The key business names that Kabura carried on business under were Reinforced Concrete Technologies, Roof and All Trading and Forme Builders,” Kilukumi told the court.
In the case, Munyiri who was eyeing the Nyeri Governor’s seat in the August polls was charged alongside other six senior bank employees.
They included KTDA branch manager Robert Oscar Nyaga, Anti-money compliance manager Charles Kamau Thiongo and head of the risk and compliance Raphael Mutinda Ndunda.
Also, operations supervisor Nancy Njambi, relationship platinum manager Meldon Awino Onyango and customer service supervisor Josephine Wairimu.
They were charged for failure to report significant transactions carried out by Kabura using three bank accounts held at the bank.
The DPP had recommended the prosecution of the bank’s officials for “abetting and aiding” Kabura to launder money through the bank. 
The court was informed that it is at the Nairobi branch of the bank where millions from the suspected fraud estimated to be worth Sh1.6 billion, was withdrawn and distributed.
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