Cytonn Chief Executive Edwin Dande was not amused by a claim made by outgoing Britam MD Benson Wairegi’s claim over a case that the later filed against the former and four others claiming that they stole Sh1.2 billion from him.
In an interview with Business Daily , speaking about his 40 years at the corner office, when asked by Jackson Biko ‘When, in recent times, did you feel really naked?. Wairegi replied,
“When we ran into a problem with some of my employees here and we had to go to court because it was a matter of values and integrity. I’m an introvert, publicity-shy and going to court, before cameras, newspapers writing about you…. That made me feel really really naked”.
This did not augur well with Britam’s former staff Edwin Dande, he replied back in a Facebook post.
“When we ran into a problem with some of my employees here and we had to go to court because it was a matter of values and integrity.” Ati values and integrity? …give me a break! With all due respect you can’t fabricate allegations of theft of billions based on non existent audits “from KPMG and Couslon Harney” and still talk of values and integrity”, Dande responded
The spat rekindled the case in which Britam accused its former four staff members, Edwin Dande, Shiv Arora, Elizabeth Nailantei , and Patricia Njeri of stealing Sh1.2 billion. The case collapsed later for lack of evidence.
The four, upon leaving, formed Cytonn Investment which has interest in real estate and asset management.
Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that Britam violated the former staff’s rights under Article 35(1)(b) of the Constitution as read with section 4(1)(b) of the Access to information Act No 31 of 2016 for not providing the audit reports that revealed the alleged theft.
“An order is hereby issued compelling the respondents to provide the petitioners with the forensic audit conducted by KPMG on the books of BAAM as mentioned in paragraph 5 of Ms Carol Akinyi Ouko-Misiko’s witness statement sworn on 27th October 2014 and filed in HCCC No 354 of 2014 and the legal audit performed by Messrs Coulson Harney of all transactions handled by the petitioners as referred to in paragraph 17 of Mr Jude Anyiko’s affidavit sworn on 27th October 2016 and filed in HCCC No. 354 of 2014,” ruled Justice Mwita.
In their submissions, Britam argued that releasing the audits would be “prejudicial to their commercial interests”, which the judge found unpersuasive.
“I find the respondents’ contention that allowing access will be prejudicial to their commercial interests unpersuasive given the nature of the information sought. This is because the Constitution and the law place a positive obligation on the state and other persons to give information in their possession for purposes of exercising or protecting rights or fundamental freedoms,” ruled Mwita.
MORE on the case, click here
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