CBK silent as Imperial Bank audit period ends
Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge speaks during a media briefing at his office on June 21, 2016. CBK had set June 30 as the deadline for FTI Consulting to conclude an audit into Imperial Bank. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- It was on the basis of FTI Consulting’s primary report that CBK decided to close down the bank on October 13, 2015 and broaden the firm’s mandate to carry out a comprehensive forensic audit into the lender.
- Some of FTI’s key findings include isolating 700 suspicious accounts and 22,520 doubtful transactions at Imperial Bank.
The Central Bank of Kenya deadline on forensic investigations into the collapse of Imperial Bank lapsed on Thursday, with the regulator remaining mum on the progress of the audit.
CBK had set June 30 as the deadline for FTI Consulting to conclude an audit into the troubled lender, having combed through the financier’s accounts since October last year.
CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge declined to respond to our queries on the status of the audit, indicating that depositors whose billions of shillings are locked in the failed bank will have to wait longer to know their fate.
Dr Njoroge had in March said the audit was “progressing at a good pace” and that the investigators needed three more months to complete the job.
He gave the three-month promise in an update dated March 31, 2016.
On June 21, the CBK boss added: “It (the investigation) is expected to be largely concluded in the near future, and it will inform the forthcoming court proceedings.”
The Washington DC-based firm was first called in by besieged Imperial Bank directors to look into allegations of massive fraud at the lender following the demise of long-serving Managing Director Abdulmalek Janmohamed.
A preliminary forensic audit by FTI Consulting revealed that Mr Janmohamed could have discreetly siphoned out Sh39 billion from Imperial Bank between 2002 to September 15, 2015 when he died — and wired the cash to his companies and bank accounts.
It was on the basis of FTI Consulting’s primary report that CBK decided to close down the bank on October 13, 2015 and broaden the firm’s mandate to carry out a comprehensive forensic audit into the lender.
Dr Njoroge reckons that the Imperial Bank heist is the biggest scandal in Kenya and makes “the Goldenberg scandal look like kid’s game”.
A commission of inquiry led by Judge Samuel Bosire reported that Kenya lost Sh27.07 billion in the Moi-era Goldenberg affair through fictitious gold export compensation schemes, dubious pre-export financing, bogus retention accounts scheme, and fake convertible foreign exchange bearer certificates.
Some of FTI’s key findings include isolating 700 suspicious accounts and 22,520 doubtful transactions at Imperial Bank.
FTI Consulting auditors are examining about 1.2 terabytes of electronic data on Imperial Bank transactions including email communication between executives, employees and CBK staff.
Court papers say the firm has retrieved data showing how the lender’s executives, including broadcasting and telecommunications PS Sammy Itemere, Mr Janmohamed, and board members Alnashir Popat and Anwar Hajee, knew of the Imperial Bank heist.
