NAIROBI | KENYA , – Kenya’s chief prosecutor said on Thursday that Diamond Trust Bank must pay a fine of Ksh56 million shillings ($542,360) for violating anti-money laundering laws, adding his office reserved the right to prosecute it in the future.
The charges related to the theft of nearly $100 million from the National Youth Service (NYS). Dozens of senior government officials and business people were charged in May 2018 with various crimes.
Thursday’s announcement was Third time the bank is facing fines in Kenya. In 2018, the central bank fined the five banks (Diamond Trust Bank inclusive) nearly $4 million for failing to report suspicious transactions.
In 2019, DTB was also fined for Aiding and abetting Terrorism in Nairobi with special link to the D2 Riverside attack.
Chief Prosecutor Noordin Haji told reporters that further investigations found the lender had failed to put in place adequate systems to combat money laundering and failed to know their customers as the law required.
He was deferring prosecuting the bank, he said, to see if IT met a deadline to improve their practices.
The C.E.O Nasim, who flanked Haji as he addressed the news conference, declined to comment. ($1 = 102.8000 Kenyan shillings, Ksh1 = 36 Uganda Shillings)
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