Board defends freezing of Kalonzo Foundation accounts

The NGOs Coordination Board has accused the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation of giving inconsistent information about its activities, hence the move to freeze its bank accounts.

Responding to a suit in which the foundation moved to court to protest a May 2, 2017 directive that saw its accounts frozen, the legal manager of the board, Mr Nicholas Lindon, said a team of compliance officers conducted a review of the foundation’s file and detected certain anomalies that were brought to its attention through a letter dated March 1, 2017.

READ: Reprieve for Kalonzo Foundation

READ: Kalonzo NGO's accounts frozen

SUSPENSION
He claimed that the NGO was notified and asked to comply with certain directives, which included disclosing all its bank accounts.

He claimed that the documents provided by the NGO for review were not satisfactory as they contained information that could not be verified.

“There were several inconsistencies that were raised, prompting us to again write to the foundation and a suspension issued on the operations to ensure preservation of status quo to enable investigations,” Mr Lindon said.

“I wish to state that the nature of inconsistencies cannot be wished away and the copies of the said letter were sent to all the relevant parties to ensure the required support was given.”

AUDITOR
Among the issues raised was the fact that the foundation has had the same auditor since inception more than 10 years ago.

Also, there were instances when donations were declared but names of donors were left out or names given as beneficiaries did not exist.

The foundation moved to court in May to challenge the directive to freeze its accounts by the NGO Coordination Board executive director Fazul Mahamed, arguing that there were no reasons given to back up the move, hence it was unlawful.

Justice Roselyne Aburili will deliver judgment on January 24.