The Central Bank of Kenya has said that significant progress has been made on Imperial Bank and that it will take time to decide the fate of IBL after scrutiny by forensic auditors to provide further evidence on the culpability of the fraudulent activities and the unsound business practices.
However, it said that 39 680 depositors, who represent about 80% of all the Imperial Bank depositors have been paid a maximum of Ksh.1 million each with payments totaling Ksh.6.8 billion already made.
The bank noted that over 700 accounts-of-interest have now been isolated for scrutiny, with some of them connected to a few dozen related accounts, while initial expectations were that there would be a few do.
The bank expects to make significant progress on this work in the next three months.
CBK says that steps have been taken and additional measures are in train to facilitate the recovery of the stolen funds both locally and from foreign countries—that were obtained irregularly from IBL.
“In order to secure the highest potential return to IBL’s depositors and creditors, and for the wider public interest, it is essential that the ongoing forensic audit and the related investigations proceed unimpeded. In light of this development, the announcement of a way forward needs to be postponed until significant progress on the forensic audit has been made, expected in the next three months.” said CBK in a statement.
“To allow greater discussion on these developments, a meeting with depositors is being arranged to be held tomorrow, Friday, April 1, at 2:30 p.m., at Fairmont The Norfolk Hotel.”
Added CBK
