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Ecobank has found itself in the midst of a storm involving the fraudulent withdrawal of Sh2.8 billion held in three bank accounts belonging to a woman from the South East Asian nation of Laos.

In suit papers filed in court, the woman is accusing the bank of having either conspired with some foreign entities linked to online international crime syndicate or deliberately allowed the fraudulent withdrawal of the money without her knowledge or consent.

In a suit filed by Monthida Rashi, the bank is accused of releasing a sum of $23,452,493 (Sh2.9 billion) to New Zealand-based payment solution provider, Kiwipay Ltd.

The claim by Rashi comes days after another company, Avistia SRO Ltd, sued the bank for allowing withdrawal of $13,473,110 (Sh1.7 billion) from its three accounts by Kiwipay.

Rashi is a director with Paygram Company Ltd. She claims that funds held in accounts owned by her company were debited into accounts of other entities such as Kiwipay PTE and Kiwipay Kenya Ltd without her consent and knowledge.

Court papers indicate she is a former director and shareholder of Kiwipay Kenya Ltd. Kiwipay PTE ltd, a firm incorporated in Singapore, offers digital payment services such as QR Code solutions for retail shops, hotels and restaurants by enabling foreign e-wallet solutions such as Alipay, SamsungPay, ApplePay and WeChatPay.

The amount in dispute had been frozen by the High Court in March 2021 over allegations of suspected money laundering and card fraud.

Money laundering

But upon conclusion of investigations by the Assets Recovery Agency, Kiwipay was cleared and the forfeiture suit was withdrawn on October 26, 2022.

The withdrawal followed a finding by the investigators that the overseas company was not in money laundering or tax evasion as suspected.

However, Rashi claims that following unfreezing of the bank accounts Ecobank authorized transactions of Kiwipay accounts leading to release of the withheld funds.

She is seeking a refund of $11,134,831 from Ecobank on behalf of Kiwipay Kenya Ltd which she claims was withdrawn from her dollar account without her knowledge and consent. She is also seeking $8,804,831 from Kiwipay PTE Limited and its director, French national Gregory Schimdt, who is her former business partner.

Rashi says the amount was illegally transferred from her accounts to Kiwipay’s accounts by the bank. She is seeking recovery of the money on behalf of her company Paygram Company Ltd.

Further, the firm is demanding a refund of $3,512,831 from Kiwipay Kenya Limited. She alleges that her company, Paygram Company Limited, lost the money through eight transactions conducted between October 28 and November 22, 2022.

“I was shocked to find out that on October 28, 2022 as well as November 16 and 17, 2022 unauthorized transactions were carried out on the company’s USD account without my knowledge or authority,” she says.

Rashi claims that on October 28, $1.8 million was debited as recovery of chargeback fees and penalties due to Ecobank.

“I am not aware of any sum due to Ecobank from the Kiwipay Kenya Ltd. Despite request, the bank has failed to provide any reasons to explain or justify such a large amount of money which they debited to the company’s account without any notice,” say Rashi.

Further on November 16, some $930,000 was moved from Kiwipay Kenya limited to another internal account, “shown as legal fees IFO Kiwipay Kenya limited”.

Fraudulent activities

“I am not aware of any legal fees that was to be paid to Kiwipay Kenya Limited. There is no credible innocent explanation for this transfer. A demand to Ecobank for an explanation has been ignored,” Rashi states.

She says that on November 17, 2022 a sum of USD 11 million was transferred out of her account to another account under the name of Kiwipay PTE Limited (Singapore) again without her knowledge or authorisation.

“There is no payment due from Kiwipay Kenya limited to Kiwipay PTE Limited whether for that amount or at all. The signatories to the accounts where these debits took place were supposed to be Stephen and I as demanded by the bank. Both of us are required to sign before any transactions happen on the account, as per the original signing mandate,” she says in the court papers.

She claims that “it is very clear that there are serious fraudulent activities in breach of all banking laws involving bank officials, lawyers and other individuals who are conspiring to steal our money”.

She adds that letters of demand to the bank have been ignored.