Top five Kenyan banks have been fined a total of Sh394 million by the Central Bank of Kenya for allegedly being involved in the illegal transaction of money in the second phase of the National Youth Service loot.
According to investigations carried out by the CBK, the five banks; Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank, Cooperative Bank of Kenya, Standard Chartered Bank and Diamond Trust were used to transact funds acquired from the NYS.
However, a source from the CBK informed Citizen that penalties were handed depending on the extent to which a bank violated monetary and banking laws and not the amount transacted through a bank.
“The more the violations, the bigger the penalty,” said the source.
KCB was handed the highest penalty of Ksh.149.5 million. Equity Bank was fined Ksh.89.5 million, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Ltd fined Ksh.77.5 million, Diamond Trust Bank fined Ksh.56 million and Co-operative Bank fined Ksh.20 million.
“CBK has discussed the detailed findings with Boards of Directors and Senior Management of each of the banks. Each has expressed their strong commitment to be fully compliant on all aspects of the law, and addressing the identified lapses through time-bound Action Plans,” reads the statement from CBK.
According to CBK, more banks that got involved in transaction NYS funds will be identified and fined as investigations are still underway.