Firm fails to get pay from NCBA over erroneous CRB listing

A transport and construction company has failed to convince a judge to compel NCBA #ticker:NCBA to pay it for damages allegedly suffered for listing the firm as a loan defaulter.

Pekatewa Investments company Ltd sued the lender accusing it of writing to its directors and copying Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) in June 2013, falsely and maliciously alleging that the company’s loan account was in arrears for over 90 days.

The firm’s managing director Peterson Kamau Kiarie testified that he later received an apology from the bank for the erroneous listing but claimed that it was an afterthought.

He demanded a public apology insisting that the listing was circulated to its other bankers, among them Kenya Commercial Bank, which declined to advance his company a loan.

But Justice Cecelia Githua said although the company claimed that the publication of the letter caused damage to its business reputation, it failed to adduce any evidence to substantiate or to prove this claim.

“He (Mr Kiarie) did not however produce any documentary evidence to that effect and he did not claim that the plaintiff suffered any loss or damage as a result of the publication,” the Judge said.

The bank defended itself saying the erroneous listing was caused by systemic errors generated in the course of transitioning from the old to a new core banking system

The lender said the move was not deliberate or malicious and that the error was swiftly corrected and an apology made to the firm. NCBA also said it wrote the letter in good faith in compliance with its statutory duties under the Banking Act and the Banking Regulations.

The judge said the company totally failed to discharge its burden of proving on a balance of probabilities that the lender caused its listing with the CRBs maliciously.