Former Mumias chiefs want bank probe stopped

Three former Mumias Sugar #ticker:MSC senior managers have moved to court to stop investigations into their personal bank accounts.

Mr Peter Hongo, Mr Paul Murgor and Ms Pamela Lutta have sued the Capital Markets Authority, its Chief Executive Paul Muthaura, the Director of Public Prosecution, the Inspector- General of Police and the Attorney General.

Through lawyer Apollo Mboya, the three are protesting against the CMA’s investigations into their personal accounts long after leaving their former employer, troubled MSC.

“It is without a shadow of doubt that the investigation of the bank accounts belonging to the three is being done in violation of the law and is therefore unlawful,” said Mr Mboya.

Mr Hongo worked at MSC between 2010 to May 2014 as the head of sales and marketing, Mr Murgor was the commercial director from September 2008 to August 2014 while Ms Lutta was the marketing head since February 1999 to May 2016.

In the case documents, they claim that the CMA sent them an email on January 12 seeking to have interviews with them and investigators in a meeting which they all attended.

Thereafter CMA investigators obtained two warrants to investigate Mr Hongo’s account at Prime Bank, Nakuru branch from February 2011 to date.

READ: CMA to use second Mumias Sugar forensic audit in court prosecutions

The said warrant also gave investigators a lee way to check his other account with the same bank at Riverside, Westlands branch in Nairobi between January and December 2010.

At the time, they learnt that the warrants and investigations related to the theft of Sh16.4 million fraudulent shares whose proceeds are alleged to have been banked in the said accounts.

However, on July 31, Mr Muthaura issued notices to show cause to them while alleging that between 2009 and 2012 Mr Hongo and Mr Murgor together with other senior managers provided excessive discounts through credit notes to select customers amounting to Sh3.1 billion.