Former senior employees of the British-American Assets Managers Limited financial firm (BRITAM) now face a Ksh.1.1 billion fraud charges for the transation they made seven years ago.
They include former managing director Harold Dande, senior portfolio manager Elizabeth Nkukuu, assistant company secretary Shiv Arora and the head of legal services Patricia Njeri.
In a report seen by Business Daily, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji said after investigations, it was discovered that the four, who later founded investment firm Cytonn, engaged in fraudulent, irregular, and unauthorised withdrawals or managed funds fraudulently.
Jude Anyiko Oluoch, Britam’s acting Chief Executive Officer said that the four officers misused their positions to make unauthorized transfers.
“Mr Dande and Ms Wanjama exchanged e-mail correspondence embodying a conspiracy to do things that had not been approved by Britam Board of Directors, the conspiracy entailed fraudulent, irregular and unauthorised withdrawals of funds from our accounts,” said the CEO.
The judges dismissed claims by the four that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji founded the criminal proceedings in a bid to hasten the process of the case filed against them by Britam.
“We find that even though the appellants were the former employees of the Britam, there is no evidence that it exerted pressure on the DPP to press charges against them or that he did so due to pressure from external forces such as the media,” said the judges.
In a ruling by the Court of Appeal, the four agreed to have authorized the transaction and would return the cash to settle the matter.
