Sexual assault claim meant to intimidate me, says bank boss

Wilfred Musau, the CEO of National Bank of Kenya (NBK), has denied claims of sexual assault and harassment levelled against him by a female manager at the bank.

The NBK boss instead accuses Asanta Samantha Luku, a 31-year-old manager in the mortgage section, of trying to blackmail him and the bank after failing to secure a promotion she was not qualified to hold as she had not worked at the bank for 18 months as required.

In his replying affidavit, Musau, through Nyamu & Nyamu Advocates, denies sexually assaulting Luku by kicking and pulling her private parts and that the Sh55 million Luku is seeking was “alarmist as damages for sexual harassment” and is being sought not only to intimidate him but also “for the sole purposes of playing to the public and media gallery for ulterior motives.”

He further states that Luku did not record sexual assault as part of her charges at the Hardy Police Station, and had in fact stated that she was physically assaulted.

Musau also refutes ever calling Luku for a meeting in Karen on October 26, and instead says Luku used his friend, Mike Mulili, as a go-between contrary to her suit papers suggesting they were alone.

Musau also denies caressing or making any sexual advances as Mulili sat between them. He states that he had to kick out Luku from the venue when she got too drunk and disorderly. The CEO says Luku started complaining about the unfairness of the bank’s management regarding her promotion.

“She became an embarrassment and Mulili and I requested her to leave the table as she had become unruly and temperamental,” Musau says in his affidavit, in which he recounts that, “I did not stay any longer after she left the table as I was disgusted and besides, it was getting late and the following day was a working day for me.”

Musau adds that, “I am surprised that from her Taxify records, she left two hours after she had left our table in an inebriated state.”

He further states that, “I did not touch the claimant and I am also surprised at her weird accusations against me.”

Musau charges that before posting the claims on social media, Luku turned down procedural approaches laid out by the bank to address her complaints, as per the institution’s sexual harassment policy, further accusing Luku of lying that the bank has no such policy.

NBK’s human resource director, Rodgers Mungumi, states in his affidavit that Luku reported the assault on January 26, 2018, but despite written reminders for written and signed statement, “the claimant expressed reservations on my request and intimated that she was uncomfortable in furnishing a written statement as required by the bank’s procedural manual.”

Mungumi adds that when a meeting was scheduled between Luku and a selected committee of the board appointed for the investigation of the complaint “she did not appear but instead stated that she had collapsed and that she was rushed to hospital by colleagues.”

Musau says the case filed at the Employment and Labour Relations Court has not been done in good faith but is rather intended to achieve a collateral purpose including vendetta against him and wonders why she filed her suit almost three months after the alleged incident.