Samuel James Kinyanjui says all banks he approached have turned him away.
Mr Kinyanjui first ran into trouble with the anti-money laundering agency three years ago over suspected links with a network of US, Nigeria and South Africa-based individuals.
The individuals were believed to have been helping him move large sums of money around the world as part of a laundering scheme.
Long-running investigations into the financial dealings of Nairobi tycoon Samuel James Kinyanjui have taken a new turn after all banks declined to serve him citing instructions from banking fraud investigators.
The blockade has forced Mr Kinyanjui back to court with a fresh application for orders stopping the banking fraud police from blacklisting him.
Mr Kinyanjui says in his petition before the court that all banks he approached have turned him away on grounds that he has been listed as a person of conflict under the proceeds of crime and anti-money laundering law.
“I have been to several banks and have been informed that the first respondent has circulated my name under the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act and listed me under the anti-money laundering records,” he says in court documents.
Mr Kinyanjui first ran into trouble with the anti-money laundering agency three years ago when investigators told the court of his suspected links with a network of US, Nigeria and South Africa-based individuals believed to have been helping him move large sums of money around the world as part of a laundering scheme.
Real estate
The businessman has significant interest in Kenya’s booming real estate sector that is part of the massive business empire he has built over a 50-year period. The Sh2 billion Edenville Estate in Kiambu and flower firm Torito Roses are some of his best known investments.
Phase One of Edenville Estate consists of 345 housing units, most of them villas priced at between Sh14.5 million and Sh18.5 million each.
Hass Consult, a real estate manager, said in a past report that the units sold out in a record 10 months.
Phase Two of the project comprises 454 maisonettes, constructed at a cost of about Sh2 billion, and plans have been in place to build a third phase on a 36.5-acre piece of land.
Mr Kinyanjui now claims that his vast business is suffering since he cannot get support from banks as a consequence of the banking fraud unit’s directive.
He argues that the decision to circulate his name as a money laundering suspect is aimed at stopping him from operating any bank accounts or accessing credit from financial institutions.
The puzzle that remains unresolved, however, is the banking fraud unit’s insistence that he may be involved in an international money laundering racket.
Mr Kinyanjui annexed to the fresh court filings copies of the pleadings he filed in 2015, the responses by the banking fraud investigators and the High Court order that allowed him to continue operating his accounts, even as the investigations went on.
The businessman claims that since February 2016 when the High Court issued the order allowing him to operate his accounts, he has never been contacted by the investigators over the matter until recently when he learnt his listing as a forbidden customer.
Mr Kinyanjui moved to court in 2015 seeking to open his Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) #ticker:DTK account, which was blocked as part of the investigations.
The businessman claimed in the previous suit that he entered the business scene with a multi-billion shilling deal that saw him supply oil mining equipment to the Nigerian government.
Documents attached in the case file indicate that Mr Kinyanjui bagged the deal with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation in 1991 but received payment in instalments over several years.
Without disclosing the total value of the deal, Mr Kinyanjui says he received millions of dollars from the Nigerian government in 1999 as the final payment.
"Malice"
The tycoon claims that the investigation is fuelled by malice as he was not given an opportunity to oppose the decision to restrict his bank transactions.
The Banking Fraud Investigation Department (BFID) has said in court filings that Mr Kinyanjui has mostly been sending large sums of money to an individual identified as Nathan Yobana -- a West African, whose nationality is not known.
Mr Kinyanjui transferred over Sh150 million to Mr Yobana between April and September 2015, but sent the funds in small instalments, which the investigators believe was meant to avoid raising suspicion.
Mr Kinyanjui argues that he has been unable to meet the financial obligations of his other business interests in the manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, transport and air freight industries and that he could as a result face lawsuits from suppliers and creditors.
The businessman got a major reprieve in the first suit when he was allowed to access his account at DTB but with a rider allowing banking fraud investigators liberty to continue with investigations if it deemed fit.
The ghost is now back to haunt him and the BFID, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney-General, who are listed as respondents, are yet to respond to the latest suit.
