The High Court has struck out a micro-finance bank worker’s bid to unfreeze Sh115 million wired into her account in US dollars by a company registered in Mauritius.
Ms Isabel Nyaguthii Wanjohi, who works at Platinum Credit Limited, had asked the court to vary the orders issued in June 2022 and allow her to access the funds.
The preservation orders were issued by the High Court following a suit filed by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA).
The state-owned agency claimed the funds that were deposited in Ms Wanjohi’s USD account were proceeds of organised crime and money laundering.
In her application, Ms Wanjohi argued that the interim orders had affected her self-esteem, reputation and operations of Platcorps Holdings Limited, another micro-finance lender.
But Justice Esther Maina said Ms Wanjohi’s application failed to meet the threshold set in law for a court to interfere with orders for preservation of funds.
“She has not met the threshold. The law provides for situations in which a variation of preservation order can be made. These include where the order has deprived the applicant of reasonable living expenses or the order has caused hardship. Those are the issues to be taken into account,” said the judge.
“But Ms Wanjohi spoke about self-esteem and reputation and effects on a company. The application has no merit,” stated Justice Maina.
In the suit, ARA alleges Ms Wanjohi was being used by fraudsters as a conduit for money laundering.
Alleged fraudsters
The agency adds that the alleged fraudsters used her account to deposit cash in dollars and hurriedly transfer the money to other accounts in South Africa. The money is at Standard Chartered Bank.
Court documents indicate the US$1 million was sent to Ms Wanjohi on April 13, 2022 by Platcorp Holdings Ltd, a company registered in Mauritius, as an unsecured loan.
The purpose of the money was not disclosed and the agency intercepted it as Ms Wanjohi was about to wire it to South Africa through swift transfer.
The agency says no reasonable explanation was given as to why she was receiving the funds and why she wanted to transfer the money to South Africa.
According to the agency, the deposits indicate activities of money laundering and when asked to explain, Ms Wanjohi allegedly produced an agreement with Platcorp Holdings Ltd claiming it was an unsecured loan.
She also produced a second agreement dated April 7, 2022, between her and Premier Credit (PTY) Ltd, where she was to loan the company a similar amount. The purpose of the loan agreement was not disclosed and no one signed as a witness.
“The investigations established that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the funds in issue are proceeds of crime obtained from illegitimate sources by the respondent, which require to be preserved pending filing and hearing of an intended forfeiture application,” the agency said. BY DAILY NATION