The Kenyan Bankers Association(KBA), the umbrella body of the banking industry on Thursday assured customers that they “Look forward to a positive outcome” in the ongoing investigations on bank transactions revolving on the National Youth Service (NYS).
“While investigations of transactions undertaken by the NYS are in progress, as KBA, we are pleased by the magnitude of effort with which our member banks are treating this exercise, recognising the industry implications, and we look forward to a positive outcome,” said KBA in a statement.
According to KBA, the banking industry is the most regulated and as such banks must comply with numerous laws and industry regulations.
“These requirements include the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Risk Management and Prudential Guidelines, and Kenya’s Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act (POCAMLA), 2009. Under these legal requirements, banks have and continue to undertake their due diligence processes seriously and report suspicious transactions to the Financial Reporting Center as required.”
This a bad move by CBK. The apex bank, as is best practice, should just have used its regulatory powers & deal with the banks. CBK should be managing the reputation risk of the system. It will now get sucked into a mess & its supervisory framework will also be also prosecuted https://t.co/ibOecirc6T
— Mohamed Wehliye, MBS (@WehliyeMohamed) February 7, 2019
The assurance comes after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) constituted a team of senior prosecutors to independently review the respective files and make recommendations within 14 days in connection with the theft of KSh8 billion at the NYS.
The DPP said he had received files from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) recommending criminal charges against Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, KCB, Equity Bank, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and Co-operative Bank for allegedly not following proper procedures leading to the loss of the NYS funds.
