The Employment and Labour Relations Court upheld Bank of Africa’s decision to dismiss senior banking officer Mary Wachira over an erroneous KSh48.1 million foreign-exchange transfer to Dubai Bank Kenya Limited.

The court rejected Wachira’s claim of unfair termination, finding she negligently approved the payment without independently confirming receipt of the corresponding funds.

The judgment also confirmed the bank’s withdrawal of her preferential staff-loan interest rates and ordered her to repay the outstanding loan balance of KSh9.78 million.

The dispute arose from a foreign-exchange transaction on July 2, 2015 in which a SWIFT message from Citibank New York requested the purchase of US$6 million, but Wachira and her team misinterpreted it as a request by Dubai Bank Kenya Limited to purchase ZAR 6 million, leading to the release of KSh48.1 million before the bank received the funds.

Wachira joined Bank of Africa in May 2007 as an operations assistant, later becoming a senior banking officer, Treasury back-office official and team leader responsible for overseeing and verifying foreign-exchange transactions.

The court noted that on the day of the error she oversaw 345 transactions valued at almost KSh1 billion, with only the KSh48.1 million transaction being erroneous.

Justice Monica Mbaru ruled “As the team leader, the greatest responsibility was with her,” and found that Wachira relied on verbal confirmation from a colleague instead of checking the SWIFT advice slip.

The court held that Bank of Africa had followed due process, including a disciplinary hearing, and that Wachira’s explanation was unsatisfactory, making the dismissal lawful.

The court distinguished Wachira’s acquittal in a related criminal case in July 2018, stating “Acquittal of criminal charges is fundamentally different from employment misconduct. In this case, with employment lawfully terminated, the benefit accrued from employment ceased.”

The bank’s counterclaim for the outstanding loan of KSh9.7 million, plus interest and costs, was upheld, while the bank’s earlier claim of KSh11.4 million was not accepted in full.

The ruling follows earlier cases where the court awarded compensation to other Bank of Africa employees who challenged their dismissals, including Faith Wairimu in November 2023 and Robert Gatobu in November 2021.