Family Bank official charged in relation to NYS money laundering

A Family Bank representative was Tuesday charged with failure to report suspicious transactions linked to the National Youth Service scandal.

John King'ori, a representative of the bank appeared before Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi and denied nine counts related to failure to report suspected proceeds of crime.

He is charged alongside Former Family Bank Chief Executive Peter Munyiri, together with other top officials for the offence linked to the National Youth Service scandal.

The court heard that the accused committed the offence between December 22, 2014 and May 19, 2015 at Family Bank Limited KTDA branch, Nairobi.

He is said to have failed to report unusual transactions relating to an account belonging to Josephine Kabura Irungu carrying on business under the business name of Reinforced Concrete Technologies held at Family Bank Limited, KTDA Branch Nairobi.

Other officials facing similar charges are Charles Kamau Thiongo, Raphael Mutinda Ndunda, Nancy Njambi, Meldon Awino Onyango and Josephine Njeri Wairi.

He is said to have failed to report unusual transactions carried out by the chief NYS suspect Kabura.
The accused is said to have failed to comply with the reporting obligations by failing to report unusual transactions relating to an account belonging to Kabura.

Kingo'ri was also charged with abetting money laundering contrary to the law on similar dates and place.

He is said to have abetted the offence of money laundering to Kabura for Sh 320,160,000 whose effect was to diminish the said sum of money which was acquired directly as a result of the commission of the offence.

King'ori was also accused of failure to file reports of cash transactions equivalent to exceeding Sh 1Million.

He faced several other counts of abetting and failure to comply with reporting obligations. The defense said the accused has co-operated with the investigation officer.

Two weeks ago, Kingori's co-accused had denied the charges and each released each on a Sh1 million bond or Sh300,000 cash bail.

"Failure to report suspicion regarding proceeds of crime," the charge sheet read in part. Details of the charges showed that the bank officials knew about the suspect dealings in bank accounts belonging to Kabura's companies namely Forme Builders, All Trading and Reinforced Concrete Technologies.

"Between December 22, 2014 and May 19, 2015 at Family Bank Kenya Tea Development Authority branch in Nairobi, Munyiri and others failed to report anti-laundering money suspicion," the charge sheet read further.

The charged officials however "abetted and aided" Ms Kabura to launder money through the bank, the charges read further. It is at the Nairobi branch of the bank where millions from the suspected fraud estimated

King'ori was also released on Sh1 Million Bond or a cash bail of Sh300,000.The case will be mentioned on January 20, 2017.