NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 – Senators now want the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK and bank managers to explain allegations of fraudulent activities involving customer accounts at various Kenyan banks.
In a statement, Nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda is pushing for the Finance Committee to investigate allegations of fraudulent withdrawal of funds from accounts belonging to customers at various Kenyan banks.
She pointed out to evidence of complains from various customers who have complained of illegal transfers done in their bank accounts.
“We want to solve these problems long term and short term and deal with this issued issues deeply to know where did the problem start. What are the measures that have been put in place? Its a very sad state of affairs,” Mutinda stated.
The Vice Chair of Finance Committee referenced to the cases of Marion Nyambura Karanja whose account at the Gikomba Branch, got wiped out of over Sh700,000.
In a similar scenario, she cited the example of Matthew Mathia whose pension funds were used to pay for a loan fraudulently taken against his account in the Limuru Branch.
“There is nothing as painful as losing your money from a bank in this economy. They lose faith in the bank where they expect their monies to be safe,” Mutinda noted.
The nominated senator has decried that in most of the cases reported to the police officers no action has been taken despite glaring evidence.
The Senator wants the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of various banks, the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Head of the Banking Fraud Investigations Department to outline measures to stem such activities.
“Outline the actions put in place, if any, by banks where similar allegations have been raised before, to ensure customers who may have lost their monies in such fraudulent activities are compensated,” Mutinda stated.
The country has in recent years become a hotbed of suspicious transactions in banks , pointing to weak anti-money laundering laws and lapses.
A growing number of commercial banks in Kenya are battling court cases for allegedly abetting fraud and credit scams, exposing the lenders’ inadequacies in conducting due diligence when opening customers’ bank accounts and monitoring financial transactions.
Various banks have been caught up in fraud scams, where impostors have been receiving money instead of the actual and intended recipients after opening parallel accounts.
The bank has been accused of colluding with the fraudsters to facilitate the opening, operation, and withdrawal of the monies from bank accounts.
