‘Bank illegally got Sh10m from children account’

 

A businessman yesterday told a Mombasa court how a bank ‘secretly’ withdrew Sh10 million from his children’s account and deposited it in his account for repayment of a loan he took from the bank in 2012. 

James Titus Kisia in an affidavit filed before Justice Dorcas Chepkwony, also accuses the bank of negligence by reporting him to Credit Referral Bureau (CRB), claiming he had defaulted repaying his loan of Sh50 million.

Mr Kisia, a real estate businessman in Mombasa and Nairobi, claims the bank illegally charged interest on the loan and yet the offer letter did not state so during the grace period of 12 months.

“Fina Bank now Guaranty Trust Bank also withdrew money from the account of my children Christine, Philip and Samuel secretly on April 30, 2014, totaling Sh10,631,269 and credited to my account purportedly to pay arrears in my loan,” said Kisia yesterday.

Kisia now aged 90 years, explained that the bank had no authority whether in the letter of offer or elsewhere for it to charge or raise any installment or installments on his facility during the 12 months’ grace period.

He accused the bank of being negligent in handling his loan facility and the loan statements, saying it failed to conform to the terms contained in the offer letter.

“I was dismayed to see that notwithstanding the accounting negligence and without communication or information to me, the bank made an allegation to CRB to the effect that I had defaulted in making loan repayments,” said Kisia.

Letter of offer

Kisia asked the court to intervene and compel the bank to produce the letter of offer and compensate him for the mess because at no time did he default repaying his loan.

The former teacher who is being represented by lawyer Mumo Matemu won the first round war against the bank yesterday after Justice Chepkwony expunged an application the bank wanted to introduce as new evidence in the case.

Justice Chepkwony made the order after it was established that the bank did not seek the court’s leave to file it.

“This is an old matter which requires disposal. The application has been filed without seeking leave and as such it has been expunged,” she said.

The judge also ordered the bank to pay Kisa the cost of yesterday’s travel and accommodation after it applied for adjournment as they were not ready to proceed with its defence.

“I am allowing the adjournment to December 3 this year when the case will proceed,” said Justice Chepkwony.

Last month, Kisia told the court that on April 25, 2012, Fina Bank gave him a loan of Sh50 million to develop a real estate in Mombasa.

He said after getting the loan, he started the development of the estate but started repaying the loan before the moratorium elapsed.

Kisia recalled how before the grace period ended, he had already repaid Sh1.5 million on the loan account following the agreement he signed with the bank.

The businessman told the court that after he commenced the repayment of the loan, the bank started writing demand letters against the agreement he had signed with Fina before being turned into GT Bank.

“I received some letters from GT Bank on April 4, 2014, demanding ‘arrears’ of Sh7.4 million which I did not know,” said Kisia.

Loan statements

He complained that over time he received many loan statements with contradictory figures some dated same day but bearing different loans amounts a situation which made it difficult for him to understand what was the actual loan debts owed at any given time.

Kisia accused the bank officials of withdrawing Sh10.6 million money from his children’s account, saying the bank committed illegality because at no time had he stated that his children were his co-directors.

The bank’s lawyer Mutua Waweru claimed it had the authority of the businessman to transfer the money in order to the loan.