How ‘Sunday Nation’ broke the story of NBK rot in 2015
What you need to know:
Sunday Nation investigation editor Andrew Teyie, who wrote the article, and the managing editor were tarred with the brush of corruption, malice, incompetence and some unprintable adjectives in between.
- But backed by more leaked documents, they did not relent, publishing the second part of its investigative special report on the bank.
During the intimidation campaign, NBK dangled carrots in form of advertisements to NMG platforms.
When the Sunday Nation broke the story on the rot at the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) on June 21, 2015 — based on an anonymous whistle-blower’s leak — there was a vicious reaction against the newspaper led by the board and the embattled CEO Munir Sheikh Ahmed. At the centre of it was an attempt to intimidate and discredit the writer, editors and the Nation Media Group as a credible source of information. It was a plan that was easy to sell: the publicly reported numbers showed a healthy balance sheet, the CEO and his board chairman Mohammed Hassan were suave and experienced managers while the bank had in recent years rebranded and declared a bold strategic direction away from its troubled past. So how could a “malicious” newspaper project a picture of deep rot beneath the glitzy façade?
PROMINENT LAWYER
The fight-back was well-choreographed, and started that Sunday morning on social media — led by prominent lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi who perhaps found it an inconvenient detail to declare his personal and professional ties with the bank. Mr Munir was portrayed as a sought-after manager who had just rescued NBK from the doldrums by declaring profits of Sh1.7 billion and winning the 2014 CEO of the year award. Sunday Nation investigation editor Andrew Teyie, who wrote the article, and the managing editor were tarred with the brush of corruption, malice, incompetence and some unprintable adjectives in between.
This reaction was probably not unexpected as, even before the article was published, a manager from the legal department had unsuccessfully approached the writer with a Sh3 million bribe to “kill” the story. Whether it was a personal initiative or sanctioned by the bank was hard to tell. A few days earlier, the CEO had been contacted for a comment, which he provided on e-mail, denying the institution was in a deeper financial mess than was being acknowledged.
PAID BLOGGERS
Once the exclusive report was published, Plan B kicked in on social media. #SalutemunirNBK on Twitter, which was pushed by paid bloggers, discredited Sunday Nation as “gutter press” and the writer as a hireling of, among others, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua who was alleged to be pushing for the sale of the bank to senior government officials. After the June 21, 2015 campaign onslaught, the journalists were confronted on the morning of June 23 with demand letters from top city lawyers and law firms. One of the letters which liberally quoted Shakespeare – the ultimate bard – was drafted by Mr Abdullahi claiming that the Sunday Nation had defamed the bank’s CEO.
During the intimidation campaign, NBK dangled carrots in form of advertisements to NMG platforms. Before then, the bank had withdrawn all advertising. Its board also released a statement telling customers and shareholders to disregard stories on the “rot”.
CLEAR WARNING
But Sunday Nation, backed by more leaked documents, did not relent, publishing the second part of its investigative special report on the bank the following weekend.
A board member was then tasked to call the writer with a clear warning — in his mother-tongue no less. One particularly aggressive conversation took an unfortunate ethnic turn:
“You are being used by Kikuyus, who want to buy the bank. Do not be used. How much money have they given you? I have to tell you this because you are from home (read ethnic community). Do you understand how a bank operates? Sh1 billion for a bank is nothing,” said the board member, alluding to the amount of a substantial toxic loan that had been highlighted in Part 2 of the Sunday Nation special report.
But behind the scenes, a more sinister operation was under way. Supposedly in collaboration with rogue Safaricom staff or State security agents, a senior bank official illegally accessed the writer’s entire call logs and messages. The writer, after establishing what had just happened, sent a protest note to the communications company, but this has to date not been responded to. The target was clear: to unmask the whistle-blower who had leaked damaging secret documents.
EVENTUALLY SACKED
But they were looking in the wrong place. The Sunday Nation had mostly dealt with the whistle-blower through discreet face-to-face meetings.
However, this did not stop the bank from targeting three staff members they suspected of leaking the information. With the help of Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers, the three were forced to record police statements — and later sacked.
Mr Ahmed was himself eventually sacked a year later after the full extent of the rot became clear. And last week, the Capital Markets Authority uncovered the web of deceit that involved cooking account books and siphoning at least Sh1 billion. Mr Ahmed was fined Sh5 million for his role in the mess — something he has vowed to appeal against — while former Head of Treasury Solomon Alubala was asked to pay Sh104.8 million in penalties and chief finance officer Chris Kisire Sh1 million.
