Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji entered into a deal where his office was paid Sh100 million to avoid prosecuting senior bank managers from StanChart Bank Kenya, official filing documents by the bank have revealed.
The details have emerged from legally mandated disclosures to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) by Standard Chartered Plc, the parent company of Standard Chartered Bank Kenya.
“ In December 2019, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya (SCBK) agreed a settlement of this matter with the DPP,” the multinational said in disclosures to the London Stock Exchange. Under the terms of SCBK’s settlement, the DPP agreed to defer prosecution against both SCBK and any persons affiliated with SCBK and the DPP imposed a penalty of Sh100 million ($964,000) on SCBK ," Stanchart said in its financial disclosures.
While the DPP had hinted at the possibility of a plea bargain, the details of the agreement remained secret in Kenya until it was filed to the LSE.
Haji said employees at various banks including Standard Chartered Bank-Kenya, KCB, Equity Bank, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and Co-operative Bank — suspiciously transacted the amounts and neither did they report to the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) as is required by law.
The Central Bank of Kenya had also penalized the various banks in a separate process from the criminal charges instituted by the DPP.
KCB was fined Sh149.5 million, Standard Chartered Bank (Sh77.5 million), Equity Bank (Sh89.5 million), Cooperative Bank (Sh20 million), and DTB (Sh56 million) over irregularities in handling of money stolen from the National Youth Service (NYS).
It was not immediately clear if the other banks also entered into plea bargain agreements with Haji’s office.
The development has come at a time some of the suspects who are before court have claimed that they were unfairly targeted while their co-accused were allowed to go.
One of the suspects, Phyllis Ngirita, said most of those who had been charged had been let go with the burden allegedly solely placed on thee Ngirita family.