Economy

Boinnet orders arrest of Chase Bank, NBK directors

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Suspended: NBK Managing Director Munir Mohamed and Chase Bank Group MD Duncan Kabui. The Inspector General (IG) of Police has ordered for their arrest. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA |

The Inspector General (IG) of Police has ordered the arrest of eight senior directors at National Bank of Kenya (NBK) and Chase Bank Friday, just a day after the banking regulator announced that the tier III lender had been put under receivership.

Joseph Boinnet directed that suspended NBK managing director Munir Mohammed, Chase Bank chairman Zuffrulah Khan and Group MD Duncan Kabui must present themselves to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters today before 3.30 pm or face arrest.

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Others who have been summoned include NBK's executive director Boniface Biko, chief credit officer George Jaba, ICT director Mohammed Abdalla and chief financial officer Chris Kisire.

Mr Boinnet also cautioned members of the public against spreading rumours that could cause "unnecessary panic", echoing CBK governor Patrick Njoroge's sentiments yesterday that social media had a role to play in the collapse of Chase Bank following a cash crunch.

"Some unscrupulous members of the public have taken to social media to spread unfounded rumours and conjecture...We shall not allow persons driven by malicious considerations to peddle to mislead members of the public," Mr Boinnet, adding that he has also ordered the arrest of a Mr David Mukundi Zawadi for misuse of social media.

Since Chase Bank's collapse, it has been revealed that a director at the troubled firm had irregularly lent himself Sh7.9 billion, without sufficient registered security and outside of the set CBK limits.

The director's actions now spell uncertainty for the recovery of over Sh95 billion of deposits, which are mostly from small and medium-sized businesses.

READ: Chase Bank director borrowed Sh7.9 billion without security