The Kenyan High Court ordered the seizure of $3.3 million, the funds of a Nigerian fintech company, Flutterwave. Justice Grace Nzioka had given the order when ruling on the application Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency -ARA had earlier filed against the Nigerian fintech company.
The Asset Recovery Agency had gone to the High court to bar Flutterwave from transferring or withdrawing the funds in the accounts until the ongoing investigation into the company’s operation is concluded.
The funds are kept in 22 accounts: two are in the United Bank for Africa (UBA), one in Access Bank, and 19 in Safaricom M-Pesa pay bill numbers.
The breakdown of the fund disclosed the following:
• Two UBA accounts have Sh110 million ($916,136.99) and Sh66.7 million ($556,622) while Access Bank had Sh29.1 million ($242,405.54).
• The M-Pesa contains Sh14.5 million ($120,784.34), Sh112 million ($932,870.58), and Sh68 million ($566,308.03) respectively.
Justice Nzioka in her ruling had stated: “A preservation order be, and is hereby issued prohibiting 1st respondent or his agents or representative from transacting, withdrawing, transferring, using any other dealings in respect to the money held in the account.”
Meanwhile, Flutterwave is also involved in another case with certain companies, and this has led to the blockage of 62 bank accounts containing Sh6.2 billion ($59.2 million) by a separate court in Kenya. The Central Bank of Kenya had earlier declared that Flutterwave did not have the license for operations in the country.
The Kenyan Central bank had described Flutterwave’s operation as illegal after some transactions involving the company’s accounts were traced to credit card frauds and other financial infractions. Flutterwave has, however, denied the allegations.
