Summary
- Interweb Global Fortune Limited operated from the 14th floor of View Park towers in Nairobi before they were shut down after a crackdown.
- CMA , through court documents, said it rejected Interweb Global’s bid to withdraw the criminal charge and settle the licence hitch out of court.
- The firm committed to refund million received from forex investors and stop tapping new clients until its obtains regulatory licence as a condition to CMA agreeing to the out-of-court settlement.
- CMA turned down the deal on grounds that it would set a bad precedent and compromise a criminal investigation where there were complainants.
An online currency trading company accused of operating
illegally and defrauding Kenyans of millions of shillings tried to cut a
deal with the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to avoid prosecution.
Interweb
Global Fortune Limited operated from the 14th floor of View Park towers
in Nairobi before they were shut down after a crackdown.
CMA
, through court documents, said it rejected Interweb Global’s bid to
withdraw the criminal charge and settle the licence hitch out of court.
The
firm committed to refund million received from forex investors and stop
tapping new clients until its obtains regulatory licence as a condition
to CMA agreeing to the out-of-court settlement.
CMA
turned down the deal on grounds that it would set a bad precedent and
compromise a criminal investigation where there were complainants.
“The petitioners have written to CMA acknowledging that they
were trading illegally and were offering to reimburse monies to
investors,” CMA lawyer Githendu Timothy said.
After
failing to cut a deal, the company has now filed a petition against CMA
and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) claiming
harassment.
In the petition is points out that the
authorities searched and seized its servers, effectively closing down
its means of earning livelihood for its staff and frozen bank accounts.
The
firm’s boss Manases Kuria said he had been arrested and detained at
Central Police station, Nairobi Area, Kilimani, Railway and DCI
headquarters in Kiambu in the guise of carrying out separate
investigations about the same matter already in court.
But
CMA said it had not conducted a search and seizure operation on the
premises and that the offices were closed before the regulator visited
the premises for investigations.
It also denied
freezing the company’s bank accounts and claimed ignorance of the
arrests and harassment of Mr Kuria stating that he had only been
arrested twice and was charged and allowed bail within 24 hours.
Mr
Githendu asked the court not to grant stay orders to the company as it
was unlawfully holding funds illegally obtained from the investing
public.
In May last year after media reports on the
operations of the company CMA launched an undercover operation that
established Interweb Global Fortunes was collecting money from the
public, offering a 20 percent monthly return on forex trading.
During
the covert operation, the CMA sleuth said he saw several people with
cheques and investment contracts issued by the company.
This
led to the conclusion that the company had collected large sums of
money from the public on pretence they were conducting forex trading yet
they did not have a licence to conduct the regulated business.
Kenya has had a history of losing money to online forex traders who disappear without a trace.
Online
forex trading firm VIP Portal owned by Alfred Wangai and his wife Mercy
Nkatha started out in Limuru in 2013 and within one year, it had
received over Sh1 billion from people looking to improve their fortunes.
The
couple was arraigned in 2014 and has since been trying to convince
judges to drop the charges. Last year they promised to refund investors
but to date, few have been paid.
Two weeks ago CMA,
Central Bank of Kenya, Insurance Regulatory Authority, Retirement
Benefits Authority, Sacco Societies Regulations Authority and State
Department of Cooperatives issued a joint statement warning Kenyans
against falling prey to unlicensed firms offering forex trade services.
No comments :
Post a Comment