The Inspector General of Police has ordered the immediate arrest of National Bank of Kenya managers and Chase Bank executives that were suspended following financial mismanagement and alleged fraud theft in the two banks.
The six NBK officials include former Managing Director Munir Mohamed, Executive Director Boniface Biko, George Jaba, Mohamed Abdalla, Wycliff Kivunira and Chris Kisire.
“Following the announcement by the Governor of Central Bank of Kenya regarding unethical conduct by certain bank directors and managers, I have therefore ordered the immediate arrest of the following persons, or in lieu, they must present themselves to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations along Kiambu road before 3.30pm today,” says the National Police Service IG Joseph Boinnet.
Embattled immediate former Chase Bank chairman Zuffrullah Khan and suspended Group Managing Director Duncan Kabui have also been ordered to report to the CID Headquarters before 3.30pm today failure to which they will be arrested.
The warrant of arrest comes a day after CBK appointed Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) as receiver of Chase Bank following revelations of financial malpractice.
Two weeks ago, NBK board of directors suspended the six managers pending an independent internal audit. The six have been surrounded by numerous accusations including illegal loan disbursements, high number of staff turnover and audit-related queries.
In addition to the MD and the Executive Director, the four other managers were in charge of Finance (Kivunira and Kisire), ICT (Abdalla) and Credit Control (Jaba).
Boinnet has also said the police have arrested David Mukunzi Zawadi for ‘misusing social media to disseminate falsehoods about the banking sector.’
“Some unscrupulous members of the public have taken to social media to spread unfounded rumours and conjecture aimed at causing unnecessary fear and panic…we accordingly wish to caution members of the public to be wary of such messages and refrain from disseminating the same.”
The CBK Governor yesterday said inaccurate social media reports contributed to Chase Bank experiencing liquidity issues forcing the regulator to move in to secure the bank’s assets and operations.
