Chase Bank officials grilled as police hunt for six National Bank managers

The whereabout of six bank directors sought by police to record statements as ordered by the Inspector General of Police over illegal bank practices remained unknown as two surrendered to CID headquarters.

Yesterday, Chase Bank Chairman Zafarullah Khan and Chief Executive Officer Dancan Kabui reported at CID headquarters accompanied by their lawyer Cecil Miller.

They were still grilled late into the night as Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Ndegwa Muhoro asked the other six top managers from the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) to surrender.

Yesterday, Mr Muhoro said one of the six top managers of the National Bank (NBK) is out of the country.

Although he did not name the official, Muhoro said a lawyer had reported to the DCI headquarters asking that his client be excused because he was out of the country.

“The search for these bank managers is still going on. They can run but they can’t hide. They should make things easy for themselves,” Muhoro said yesterday.

Officers at the directorate headquarters had been instructed to wait for the bank officials the whole of Friday to ensure that when they showed up, there would be a person in place to take down their statement.

“Our officers are on standby up to whatever time they will appear. They have very clear instructions to wait for them. We are on duty 24/7, we don’t close our shop... they don’t have a choice but to come forward and record a statement,” said Muhoro just before he ordered the manhunt Friday night.

Among the wanted are sacked NBK Managing Director Munir Mohamed, Chief Finance Officer Chris Kisire and ICT Director Mohammed Abdalla. The others are Chief Credit Officer George Jaba, Cting Chief Finance Officer Wycliff Kivunira and Executive Director Boniface Biko.

Meanwhile, bloggers have lashed out at the Deputy President William Ruto, Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge and the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet for what they said was a “narrative to muzzle freedom of expression”.

“We do not support the spreading of falsehoods online. We will, however, not sit back and allow repressive attempts to clamp down on genuine, accurate and instructive expression of freedoms that are meant to grow the country,” said James Wamathai, the director of Bloggers Association of Kenya.