Family Bank To Plead Guilty In NYS Scandal, To Be Fined Ksh64 Million

Family Bank’s Head of Security Joseph King’ori, is expected to plead guilty to six counts of failure to report transactions made by National Youth Service (NYS) scandal suspects.

It is reported that this was reached after the bank entered a plea bargain agreement with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji for handling money allegedly looted from NYS.

“The accused persons is entering into this plea Agreement and is pleading guilty freely and voluntarily without promise or behalf of any kind,” reads the plea agreement in part.

In return, the bank is expected to pay Ksh64.5 million as court fine for the six counts of crime.

Ksh24.5 million will be deposited into the NYS account while Ksh40 million will be deposited as court fine.

In case the bank fails to comply with the terms and conditions set forth in the plea agreement, the State will fully prosecute it on all criminal charges.

Last month, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced a Ksh392.5 million fine for all banks that handled the NYS loot.

Among the banks affected by the move included Standard Chartered Bank, Equity Bank, KCB Bank, Co-operative Bank and Diamond Trust Bank Kenya.

In a statement, CBK said the move is set to streamline the banking sector in Kenya, in relation to handling stolen money.

“CBK has reviewed each bank’s response to the penalty assessment and has concluded that the submissions were not sufficient to alter the findings of the investigations and the penalties assessed. Consequently, CBK has levied the penalties as assessed,” read the statement from CBK.