Corporate News
Ecobank branch in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE
By SANDRA CHAO-BLASTO, schao@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The contractor is now seeking court orders to compel Ecobank to release the money, a substantial amount of which is still lying in the fraudulently opened account.
- Hasmita Patel, a director of the firm, said that while compensation discussions were ongoing with the government last year, three individuals registered a company in their name and began having parallel negotiations with government over the payment.
- Mr Patel said the three under the forged company name Kay Construction Co. Ltd approached the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), which deposited Sh287.8 million in the fake account.
Ecobank has been entangled in a fraud case with a
construction company that claims to have lost a Sh300 million payment
that was deposited in an account opened by a fraudster.
Kay Construction Company claims that fraudsters opened the
account at Ecobank that was later used to receive payments that were due
from the government.
The contractor is now seeking court orders to
compel Ecobank to release the money, a substantial amount of which is
still lying in the fraudulently opened account.
“This honourable court be pleased to issue a
mandatory order directing Ecobank to release the sum total of
Sh287,769,500 deposited into the account,” said Kay Construction
Company in an application filed at the commercial division of the
Milimani High Court.
The contractor said in court documents that it
entered into a contract with the government in 1990 for the construction
of Kitui Primary Teachers Training College, but delayed completion,
which prompted the government to terminate the contract.
The contractor in 2010 filed a claim in court for
the work that had already been done before the contract was terminated,
but later withdrew the suit after the Minister of Education promised to
pay the contractual sum.
Hasmita Patel, a director of the firm, said that
while compensation discussions were ongoing with the government last
year, three individuals registered a company in their name and began
having parallel negotiations with government over the payment.
The building firm claims that James Kigoi Kariuki,
David Ndung’u Ng’anga’ and Susan Macharia went ahead to open
an account with Ecobank’s Valley Arcade branch under the company name in
which the government deposited the payment.
“Information obtained from the companies registry
show that the three falsified the records of the applicant and have
purported themselves to be directors and secretary of the applicant.
They fraudulently procured and falsified records of the applicant such
as certificate of incorporation, tax registration PIN and the VAT number
of the applicant,” he said.
Kay Construction Company was incorporated in 1984,
while the alleged fake firm was formed in June 2014. Mr Patel said the
three under the forged company name Kay Construction Co. Ltd approached
the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), which deposited Sh287.8 million
in the fake account.
Justice Francis Gikonyo had earlier ordered Ecobank to freeze the account until the matter was heard and determined.
He has now allowed KeRRA to file an application
seeking to compel the lender to reverse the amount paid to the bank in
order to have it paid to the rightful beneficiary.
The matter will be heard on March 10.
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