Dubai Bank Chiefs Charged with Conspiring to Defraud Bank of Africa

Two directors and three managers of the collapsed Dubai Bank have been charged with conspiring to defraud another lender more than Sh48 million. Messrs Hassan Zubeidi, Ali Sheikh, Adam Ali Mwanaidi, Faith Wairimu Munyoru and Robert Gatobu are alleged to have conspired to defraud Bank of Africa Kenya Limited Sh48.2 million on July 2  2015.

The four were accused of committing the offence at Dubai Bank Kenya Limited (DBKL).The bank has since been placed under statutory management by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) after facing liquidity problems. Besides the four who appeared before senior principal magistrate Martha Mutuku, two other senior managers of the collapsed bank Professor Wilson Nandwa Hassan and Mary Immaculate did not attend court as directed by Milimani chief magistrate Daniel Ogembo.

Equities

Mixed signals were witnessed in the equities market on Thursday as all the market indicators pointed south despite an increase in activity mainly seen in Equity bank and Safaricom. The three indices lost points to settle at a lower level compared to its previous performance.

The NASI was down marginally to end the day at 138.76 points while the NSE-20 share index decreased by 6.30 points to close the day at 3609.81 points. The NSE 25 index dropped 24.94 points to level at 3901.32 points.

Investors’ wealth declined slightly to KES 1995.213 billion from KES 2001.212 billion yesterday whilst equity turnover doubled to KES 1.15 billion on account of an increase in traded volumes.

Currencies 

The Kenya Shilling was stable on Thursday against the US dollar but lost ground further to the Sterling and the Euro. The shilling shed 0.39% against the Euro to settle at a mean of 112.35 and 2.31% to the Sterling pound to end at an average of 134.25 as expectations of a steadier political environment in the UK gained momentum following the entry of a new Prime Minister, Theresa May.

The local currency is anticipated to lose ground further against the Pound due to the development but the Central Bank will likely intervene in the near term to prevent any excessive sliding.