NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 18 – The nominee for Treasury Cabinet Secretary post Njuguna Ndung’u has denied claims that his wife’s Thailand holiday trip was funded by Imperial Bank.
Appearing before the National Assembly Appointments Committee Tuesday, Ndung’u stated that the trip was funded privately through an agent.
The former Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor further stated that the Bank did not collapse during his tenure.
“Imperial bank did not collapse under my tenure as CBK governor. Regarding the whole issue of the Imperial bank and my wife’s trip to Thailand, we paid an agent at the resort directly for that trip. I paid for that holiday for my wife,” he stated.
Even though Njuguna claims that Imperial Bank was closed in 2017 records show that the financial institution starting facing trouble in 2015.
Imperial Bank was placed under receivership in October 2015, and the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) appointed as the receiver.
The Central Bank of Kenya placed Imperial Bank Limited in liquidation, paving way for the sale of its assets.
Ndung’u was also put to task by legislators to explain claims that he presided over the collapse of banks during his tenure at CBK.
The MPs in the Committee on Appointments wanted to know what he did or failed to do leading to a weak shilling when he was in charge.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa specifically asked Ndung’u to explain why several banks including Chase bank and Imperial banks collapsed when he served as the CBK Governor.
But Ndung’u denied claims that he was to blame for the collapse, instead blaming the collapse on other factors.
“During my time, there was no bank that collapsed. I agree there were problems and what we did was to develop solutions so as to save the markets. There were several mergers and those mergers were geared towards preventing any collapse of banks because market situations do change,” Ndung’u told the MPs.
He also defended the decisions he made regarding the mergers, saying that he was just doing his job as a regulator.
“A regulator is not someone who is waving an axe in the market. A regulator is a person who is trying to understand the market, help develop the market, and regulate and protect the market, and that’s what I did,” he stated.
Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi also raised a question on the award of the currency printing tender to De La Rue company in which taxpayers lost an estimated Sh3 billion, during Ndungu’s tenure.
