CBK ready to prosecute Imperial Bank fraud architects

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has said it has prepared a water tight case against individuals and institutions that were part of the Sh38 billion fraud at Imperial Bank.

According to the regulator, the forensic audit carried out by FTI Consulting is complete with the CBK now preparing to take action.

CBK Governor Dr Patrick Njoroge says the audit has taken longer than expected in effort of ensuring the regulator is able to recover funds siphoned from the bank as hold those at fault accountable.

“We’ve reached a rather delicate point in the investigation and prosecution. At the end of the day the idea here is to provide evidence that will lead to a recovery of the resources for depositors and hold the responsible parties accountable,” Dr Njoroge said.

The investigation was initially expected to be done by June 30, but the central bank chose to use the full one year term of the receivership to expand its investigations.

A preliminary forensic audit by FTI Consulting showed that the late Abdulmalek Janmohamed, Managing Director could have channeled out Sh39 billion from the bank over a 13 year period.

Other key findings include 700 suspicious accounts as well as 22,520 doubtful transactions.

Imperial Bank shareholders have taken the regulator over the length of time taken to conclude its investigations with a string of court cases.

Imperial Bank was placed under receivership on October 13 2015 in what the CBK termed as unsafe and unsound business conditions.