Imperial Bank receivership illegal - lawyer

Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge committed an illegality when he placed Imperial Bank Ltd under receivership without approval from the regulator’s Board of Directors, a court heard on Wednesday.

Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi , representing the lenders’ shareholders, on Wednesday told Justice Olga Sewe that Dr Njoroge made the decision as an individual, which is against the law, because the CBK did not have a properly constituted board of directors at the time, which is lawfully mandated to make that decision.

“At the time the decision was made to put Imperial Bank under receivership, the CBK did not have a board of governors. It is only recently that a list of the board of governors was taken to Parliament,” lawyer Ahmednasir.

Lawyer George Oraro, representing Imperial Bank, however, opposed Mr Ahmednasir’s line of argument, saying the claim should have been raised earlier and Dr Njoroge given time to respond.