The Edenville Estate in Kiambu County on December 24, 2015. Inset is Nairobi tycoon Samuel James Kinyanjui. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
Summary
- Samuel James Kinyanjui says all banks he approached have turned him away.
- Mr Kinyanjui first ran into trouble with the anti-money laundering agency three years ago over suspected links with a network of US, Nigeria and South Africa-based individuals.
- The individuals were believed to have been helping him move large sums of money around the world as part of a laundering scheme
Long-running investigations into the financial dealings of
Nairobi tycoon Samuel James Kinyanjui have taken a new turn after all
banks declined to serve him citing instructions from banking fraud
investigators.
The blockade has forced Mr Kinyanjui
back to court with a fresh application for orders stopping the banking
fraud police from blacklisting him.
Mr Kinyanjui says
in his petition before the court that all banks he approached have
turned him away on grounds that he has been listed as a person of
conflict under the proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering law.
“I
have been to several banks and have been informed that the first
respondent has circulated my name under the Proceeds of Crime and
Anti-Money Laundering Act and listed me under the anti-money laundering
records,” he says in court documents.
Mr Kinyanjui first ran into trouble with the anti-money
laundering agency three years ago when investigators told the court of
his suspected links with a network of US, Nigeria and South Africa-based
individuals believed to have been helping him move large sums of money
around the world as part of a laundering scheme.
Mr James Kinyanjui.interests
Mr James Kinyanjui.interests
| Maisonate units in Edenville Esate (454 units) constructed at a total cost of Sh2 billion. |
| Alleged multi billion shilling deal to supply oil mining equipments to Nigeria. |
| Claims to be having legitimate business interests in South Africa |
| He also claims to have founded Geminia Insurance but later sold all his shares. |
Real estate
The
businessman has significant interest in Kenya’s booming real estate
sector that is part of the massive business empire he has built over a
50-year period. The Sh2 billion Edenville Estate in Kiambu and flower
firm Torito Roses are some of his best known investments.
Phase
One of Edenville Estate consists of 345 housing units, most of them
villas priced at between Sh14.5 million and Sh18.5 million each.
Hass Consult, a real estate manager, said in a past report that the units sold out in a record 10 months.
Phase
Two of the project comprises 454 maisonettes, constructed at a cost of
about Sh2 billion, and plans have been in place to build a third phase
on a 36.5-acre piece of land.
Mr Kinyanjui now claims that his vast business is suffering
since he cannot get support from banks as a consequence of the banking
fraud unit’s directive.
He argues that the decision to
circulate his name as a money laundering suspect is aimed at stopping
him from operating any bank accounts or accessing credit from financial
institutions.
The puzzle that remains unresolved,
however, is the banking fraud unit’s insistence that he may be involved
in an international money laundering racket.
Mr
Kinyanjui annexed to the fresh court filings copies of the pleadings he
filed in 2015, the responses by the banking fraud investigators and the
High Court order that allowed him to continue operating his accounts,
even as the investigations went on.
The businessman
claims that since February 2016 when the High Court issued the order
allowing him to operate his accounts, he has never been contacted by the
investigators over the matter until recently when he learnt his listing
as a forbidden customer.
Mr Kinyanjui moved to court in 2015 seeking to open his Diamond Trust Bank (DTB)
account, which was blocked as part of the investigations.
The
businessman claimed in the previous suit that he entered the business
scene with a multi-billion shilling deal that saw him supply oil mining
equipment to the Nigerian government.
Documents
attached in the case file indicate that Mr Kinyanjui bagged the deal
with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation in 1991 but received
payment in instalments over several years.
Without
disclosing the total value of the deal, Mr Kinyanjui says he received
millions of dollars from the Nigerian government in 1999 as the final
payment.
"Malice"
The
tycoon claims that the investigation is fuelled by malice as he was not
given an opportunity to oppose the decision to restrict his bank
transactions.
The Banking Fraud Investigation
Department (BFID) has said in court filings that Mr Kinyanjui has mostly
been sending large sums of money to an individual identified as Nathan
Yobana -- a West African, whose nationality is not known.
Mr
Kinyanjui transferred over Sh150 million to Mr Yobana between April and
September 2015, but sent the funds in small instalments, which the
investigators believe was meant to avoid raising suspicion.
Mr
Kinyanjui argues that he has been unable to meet the financial
obligations of his other business interests in the manufacturing,
pharmaceuticals, transport and air freight industries and that he could
as a result face lawsuits from suppliers and creditors.
The
businessman got a major reprieve in the first suit when he was allowed
to access his account at DTB but with a rider allowing banking fraud
investigators liberty to continue with investigations if it deemed fit.
The
ghost is now back to haunt him and the BFID, the Director of Public
Prosecutions and the Attorney-General, who are listed as respondents,
are yet to respond to the latest suit.
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