Four senior ex-employees of British American Asset Managers have been charged with fraud amounting to more than Ksh1 Billion.
Harold Dande, the former managing director, Elizabeth Nkukuu, the senior portfolio manager, Shiv Arora, the assistant company secretary, and Patricia Njeri, the head of legal services, will now face charges after the Court of Appeal dismissed their motion to dismiss the case, claiming that the money had been refunded.
According to the Business Daily, the former top employees admitted to authorizing the remittances, and then promised to refund the money in an attempt to settle the matter.
Justices Asike Makhandia, Mumbi Ngugi and Pauline Nyamweya ruled that there was evidence of the commission of the offence.
“As to whether the evidence was sufficient to found a conviction is for the trial court” the ruling read.
The judges also denied charges that Noordin Haji, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), caved to pressure from Britam to prosecute them, claiming that there was no evidence to back up the claims.
The four were to be prosecuted with two counts of theft by servant after reportedly authorizing payments from Britam totaling more than Sh1.1 billion between July and September 2014 from the firm’s real estate fund.
The lawsuit was dismissed by High Court judge John Mativo in 2017, causing them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
According to the DPP, it was established after investigations that the four, who later founded investment firm Cytonn, engaged in fraudulent, irregular, and illegal withdrawals or mismanaged funds.
Payments were made by Mr Arora, reviewed by Ms Nkukuu, and approved by Mr Dande, according to the investigation. They allegedly resigned from Britam in order to thwart investigations.
