Imperial Bank headquarters.[Photo/the-star.co.ke]
Kenya Power has recovered Sh34.1 million from Imperial Bank which is part of the sanctioned payments by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) after the lender’s collapse in October 2015.
The receipt of the funds was revealed in its recent annual report for the financial year to last June, leaves the firm with Sh288.3 million stuck in the failed bank.
This huge amount of unattainable cash puts Kenya Power among large depositors who risk losing tens of millions of shillings in the collapsed lender which is up for sale.
“Included in cash and bank is an amount of Sh288.28 million deposited in Imperial Bank Limited which was placed under receivership in 2015,” Kenya Power says in its report.
“During the year, a recovery of Sh34.15 million was made. The rest of the balance is fully provided for.”
Kenya Power says it did not have any funds retained in Chase Bank which was placed under receivership in April 2016 after an unidentified loss of billions of shillings at the mid-sized lender.
Imperial Bank was placed under statutory management after a multi-billion shilling fraud was revealed with the lender’s top executives and directors implicated.
Its crash sent shock waves among depositors with those holding large sums staring at heavy losses.
The CBK in June 2016 appointed NIC Bank as a consultant for Imperial Bank with the main task of separating the “good bank” from the “bad bank” on a legal arrangement technically referred to as “exclusion and transfer process.”
The arrangement saw NIC process payments to depositors and collect loan repayments which came to an end in May 2017.