Ecobank company secretary now co-accused in house suit

• The prosecution has lined up 20 witnesses to testify on the alleged forgery involving the city property.
• They are accused of obtaining the registration of the building located along Nairobi’s Mokhtar Dadar Street behind Nakumatt Lifestyle valued at Sh105 million by false pretences.
• The property is at the centre of a dispute between the bank and the family of the late owner Mohammed Habib over alleged irregular sale.
• The managers are accused of having procured, on behalf of Akiba Bank, a precursor of Ecobank, the registration of change of title deed to a property belonging to the Habib family without their consent. The complaint was lodged by his son Mohamed Abubakar.

A case in which two Ecobank executives are accused of fraud took a new twist yesterday after the bank’s company secretary was charged with the same offence.

Paul Ndung’u was summoned to take a plea after the prosecution amended the charge sheet to include the bank in the criminal case regarding the registration of a prime four-storey building in Nairobi.

Mr Ndung’u denied the charges before principal magistrate Esther Nderitu and was ordered to execute a cash bail of Sh300,000.

His co-accused, Michael Monari, the bank’s managing director in Kampala and Wilfred Nyasimi Oroko, a senior group officer in Lome, Togo, were also in court for the hearing of the case, which was adjourned owing to the new development. The two are out on a Sh300,000 cash bail.

Senior principal magistrate Lucy Nyambura in June ordered the case against Mr Monari and Mr Oroko to be heard from August 20 to 24.

The prosecution has lined up 20 witnesses to testify on the alleged forgery involving the city property.

They are accused of obtaining the registration of the building located along Nairobi’s Mokhtar Dadar Street behind Nakumatt Lifestyle valued at Sh105 million by false pretences.

The property is at the centre of a dispute between the bank and the family of the late owner Mohammed Habib over alleged irregular sale.

The managers are accused of having procured, on behalf of Akiba Bank, a precursor of Ecobank, the registration of change of title deed to a property belonging to the Habib family without their consent. The complaint was lodged by his son Mohamed Abubakar.

Mr Abubakar alleged the two senior managers signed the title charge as directors of the bank and complained the transaction was a forgery as Mr Habib had died in June 17, 2007 while the charge was signed and executed on December 31, 2008.

The title had been charged to the bank by the late Habib after he borrowed a loan of Sh7.5 million. By the time he passed on in 2007, he had repaid Sh6.5 million but the bank continued demanding Sh105 million from the family.

Thereafter, the bank sold the property to a businessman John Kariuki Ngururi for Sh60 million.

Before they were charged, the two had attempted to stop their arrest and prosecution but Mr Justice Mohamed Warsame dismissed their application and in effect gave the Director of Public Prosecutions a go-ahead to open criminal charges.