By Reporter
The greed to loot and steal money from unsuspecting clients at Absa bank is sky rocketing with the merciless staff now altering client details to process fraudulent withdrawals.
The new development is a big hurdle and impediment to the bank’s efforts to clear its name from the numerous allegations and the ongoing court case over data breach.
In the Sh106 million money heist,some staff have already been sent home while at the same time. Remaining employees at Digo Road and Nyali branches are the ones being investigated internally over suspect fraudulent activities targeting clients.
The incident happened in May 2024 where greedy staff at the two branches schemed and swindled the Sh 106Million from a client understood to be a retired Ambassador and also served in the Kenya defence forces (Kenya Navy).
CHANGED ACCOUNT DETAILS
The retired officer sat home comfortably convinced his pension/Money was safe in the bank but the bank officials from the two branches were busy changing the signatory details on the account. They did this by introducing a fake telephone number, opened a fictious account and made away with the Ksh 106 million.
The fraudsters introduced a new signatory in the name of the officer’s spouse and with full mandate to make withdrawals. And the masquerading spouse started withdrawing large cash of over Sh 5 million from branches against the Central Bank ( CBK) banking regulations.
In one incident,the branch manager Jonesmus Mwambire approved a withdrawal of Sh7 million,a move that did not go down well with the regional boss Fadhiya Nordin to suspend him.
Interestingly, Nordin has been overheard telling customers that she is aware of the problems the customers are facing and has assured those concerned with the accounts that she will weed out all the fraudulent staff. One of the staff at the centre of most Absa bank scandals Wycliffe Makori and other corrupt staff who have been mentioned in numerous allegations are likely to face the sack.
Back to Mwambire,it has emerged that he was denied the regional manager position which he had occupied for 6months in acting capacity.
CORRUPTION AND NEPOTISM
While Jonesmus Mwambire and his Operations Manager and a Relationship Manager based in Nyali Branch have been suspended, nothing has been done to Serah Muthui the branch manager at Nyali who is a sister to Moses Muthui who is the Consumer Banking Director. She is the one who did all the arrangements including getting the person to withdraw the money from Nairobi based branches.
She was also eying the position of the regional boss after several failed attempts by his brother.
This unfair treatment of staff at Absa has left some of the innocent staff a worried lot.
COURT STRATEGY
Some senior executives at the bank led by the Chief Finance Officer Mr. Yusuf Omari and other directors are believed to have put so much pressure on the Legal team, the business support and recoveries teams to ensure they are ahead of the game in all the court cases, fastrack the recovery processes using auctioneers.
They pick on auctioneers who are known to them and who can influence the auction process then nominate friends to place winning bids.
The friends who win the Auction bids for the bank’s repossessed properties are secretly financed by the bank despite some of them not qualifying for the facility. The approval process is always fast-tracked by the credit teams who are also paid by cartels acting behind the scenes.
The properties are later transferred to the bank executives through companies registered in the name of law firms, most of which are on the bank’s legal team panel.
So bad is the greed that the bank is also disposing of some of its branches at throw away prices. A good example is the sale of the Absa Bamburi branch at 30 percent of its market value to the Yusuf Omari’s proxy companies.
Pressure is now being put on the Managing Director Abdi Mohamed and the corporate services department headed by Gilbert Ngetich to also dispose of the Diani Branh which seats on 15Acres beach plot.
The Diani branch also has two bank owned cottages, 3 and 4 bedrooms each situated alongside the beach neighbouring the multi million Leisure lodge hotel and golf club.
The bank cartels composed of the senior executives are secretly fighting to grab the Diani property which is valued at over Kah400Million but they are demanding to sell it to their proxies at a throwaway price of not more than Ksh120Million.
The board room wars saw the banks director of Treasury Management who was reporting to Yusuf Omari resign after he differed with the EXCO strategy and was kicked out over the dealings.
MORE RESIGNATIONS OVER PROPERTY DISPOSAL
The forceful disposal of the client properties has also seen the banks long serving Head of SME Susan Situma tender his resignation after she differed with the credit director and Business Banking Director Elizabeth Wasuna on how SME clients were being treated by the bank.
Most of them having their properties auctioned and disposed proxy companies owned by the rogue officials.
Susan Situma’s frustration was also fuelled by how the bank chose to handle the long outstanding matter of New Mega Africa where after the bank officials based in Mombasa led by Wycliffe Makori and Sophie Omondi blackmailed the client, leaked their information to competitors and third parties and extorted millions of shillings from the client.
The bank cancelled the facility, recalled the facility and issued a statutory demand on the property after the bank noticed its employees have misbehaved and brought down the client’s business, prompting the client to file a case seeking compensation totaling Ksh 1.5 billion for damages.
The bank tried to have the file disposed knowing the matter will not proceed after a meeting with court officials at Tamarind Hotel Mombasa on November 1st 2022.
Shockingly even after the intensive meeting, the company through its legal team did not file a defence exposing the absa shareholders to sh 1.5billion claim.
It is feared that over Ksh.3 Million exchanged hands in the meeting facilitated by Yusuf Omari when he was the acting MD and Moses Muthui being the chief strategy officer.
Among those who attended the meeting include Ken Kenyarati head of legal, Wilson, the absa company secretary, Elizabeth Wasuna business banking director, Nyariki from Mombasa law court and a senior partner from IKM advocates.
What irked Susan the Most forcing her to tender her resignation is that two of the bank senior executives were also jostling for New Megas property located in Kitisuru [Upmarket Nairobi].
The property is valued at over KES 100Million yet the bank wants to dispose it to its senior executives at Ksh 50 Million despite the company having an order of stay pending the hearing and determination of the matter as directed by the court.
Susan has also disagreed with the bank on how Mr Wycliffe Makori has not been summoned for disciplinary action yet he is the mastermind of the New Mega Africa mess.
In fact, Wycliffe has been heard on several occasion bragging to the colleagues and friends that owing to the New Mega case, the bank cannot touch him.
The bank considers him a key witness in the New Mega case such that he has been guaranteed protection whatsoever. In fact, he was promoted to be a cooperate credit analyst which is putting big cooperate clients in Mombasa at risk.
Some of the cooperates that are uncomfortable with there information being in the hands of the Mastermind Wycliffe Makori include; Bamburi Cement, Devki steel, Prime fuels, Premium Energy, Premier hospital, Mombasa Maize millers and Kitui Flour and many others who have raised the issues with management but they have assumed the cry of the clients who are now working to move their business to other banks.
Some are even forcing the bank to sign the non-disclosure agreements, committing that non of the information is going to be accessed by one Wycliff Makori.
CBK AND ABSA SOUTH AFRICA PROBING STAFF
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Absa’s headquarters in South Africa have now launched investigations into all activities of the bank’s branches across the country.
Initiatives are also underway to have senior staff investigated over properties they have acquired in recent times between 2018 and 2024, the period the bank’s employees have been ok the spot over serious allegations of money laundering.
