Justice Alfred Mabeya has extended freeze order of Ksh 400 million domiciled in two accounts of a criminal case suspect namely Kirimi Koome to December 20, 2023.
The heated case where Koome was charged with fraudulently acquiring and retaining the said money belonging to Stay Online Ltd came up today before Justice Mabeya for directions where the learned Judge ordered all files touching the matter be consolidated.
The money in dispute is believed to be the property of Stay Online Ltd, however, in what appears to be unclears circumstances, the money found it way to the accounts of Kirimi Koome who at the time was a director of stay online limited and has since been charged with conspiracy to defraud Desire Muhiyunza.
While extending the orders, Justice Mabeya stated that the case would be heard expeditiously so that the money that has been frozen can be released to the legitimate owner and circulated in the Kenyan economy.
In the case, the court has frozen Sh 400 million that Koome has fraudulently claimed after StayOnline Ltd CEO Desire Muhinyuza moved to court to protect the money, saying it belonged to merchants.
So far, Orlov, on behalf of the firm, has disowned Koome, stating that they only did business with Desire and are unaware of how Koome is claiming the money.
According to Orlov, their firm acts as a channel for information to be sent between the cardholder and the acquiring bank receiving the payment.
He goes on to say that as the CEO of SMTM, he knows all of the merchants that utilize the platform to process payments.
According to court filings, Desire and SMTM began their commercial partnership in Rwanda in September 2021 and continued in Kenya beginning in May 2023.
According to Orlov, a merchant relationship is one in which the bank keeps cash in trust for the merchants and, in exchange, the bank and the service provider get commission on all transactions as agreed.
“SMTM has knowledge of Stay Online Limited transactions that pass exclusively through the SMTM processing center,” reads court papers.
He further says that SMTM is a processing center in Europe while Stay Online Limited is a Service Provider in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia
“I know that the ultimate owners of the funds received by Stay Online Limited bank account held at UBA exclusively belong to the merchants as elucidated above,” Orlov says
He further states that from his end he does not know of the commissions earned by the bank in question nor Stay Online Limited.
During interactions with the merchants of the Intended Interested party/Applicant, only the IP addresses of the merchants,” reads court papers.
Orlov says he is aware that the Stay Online account domiciled at United Bank of Africa, which holds money in trust for the Merchants, has been frozen through a court order.
“I can attest to the fact that when unfrozen, the said money will be paid to the Merchants who have been waiting to be paid according to their respective agreements with Stay Online Limited,” Orlov said.
Koome has since been charged before the criminal court with several counts of fraud related to the matter before court.
