Move to sanction banks in NYS looting saga justified, CBK says

The banks that handled the biggest chunk of funds stolen from the National Youth Service (NYS) have failed to convince the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) on why they don’t deserve to be penalised.

While cracking down on the transaction of the ill-gotten funds, CBK concentrated on Standard Chartered, Equity, KCB, Co-operative and Diamond Trust Bank.

On September 21, the monetary regulator asked the lenders to file their responses after CBK went public with the sensitive details.

After reviewing the responses, CBK says that it is satisfied that the submissions made by each of the banks are not sufficient to alter the findings of each of the investigations and the penalties assessed, CBK will now go ahead and penalise each of the banks.

“CBK welcomes the submitted Action Plans which will strengthen the banks anti-money laundering and countering of financial terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks. CBK will monitor the implementation of the Action Plans and notes the strong commitment expressed by banks to be fully compliant with all aspects of the law,” said CBK in a press statement published on its social media pages.

The Central Bank says that the move has been necessitated by the need to safeguard the interests of stakeholders and maintaining a healthy financial sector.