Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi gave the accused persons the last adjournment to try and settle the matter failure to which it will proceed to full hearing.
The bank is seeking a month to try and settle the matter out of court.
Two of their attempts have flopped.
The Family bank and eight of its former officials implicated in the Sh 1.6 billion NYS scam want the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji to grant them the last chance to try and settle the matter out of court.
The defense requested the court to grant them more days to settle the matter with the complainants after two of their attempts flopped.
In the case, the bank Chief Executive Officer John King’ori is charged alongside former CEO Peter Munyiri ,KTDA Branch Manager Robert Oscar Nyaga, Anti-money compliance manager Charles Kamau Thiongo, Head of Risk and compliance Raphael Mutinda Ndunda, Operations Supervisor Nancy Njambi , Relationship Platinum manager Meldon Awino Onyango and Customer Service supervisor Josephine Wairi with failure to report significant transactions carried out by the chief suspect Josephine Kabura Irungu’s using three bank accounts held at the bank.
The former employees are charged with failing to report money-laundering charges between 22nd December 2014 and 19th May 2015.
In the second count,the court heard that they failed to report unusual transactions relating to an account held by Josephine Kabura under the business name Reinforced Concrete Technologies. They were also charged with failure to file transactions exceeding Sh 1 million cash.
All the accused persons in the case have denied the charges and were each released on a cash bail of Sh 300,000.
The bank through defence lawyers Cecil Miller and Waweru Gatonye who are representing King’ori in the case asked Milimani Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi to give them 30 more days to pursue their fresh negotiations.
“The parties are seeking to settle the matter out of court and we urged the court to give us another 30 days to engage the different complainants from various government agencies as it has not been possible to conclude the negotiations,” the defence submitted.
The first request was rejected by former DPP Keriako Tobiko, while the second one was rejected by the current DPP Haji.
The prosecution, through Counsel James Warui said he was not opposing the out of court settlement but added that his boss also needs more time to make his decision on the plea bargain.
He said the DPP has been very busy following matters related to other banks involved in the NYS money laundering scandal and asked the court to give the defence more time upon which a decision could have been reached.
Family bank informed the court that they have written several proposal letters to DPP, EACC, Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoronge and PS Public Works seeking to settle the matter out of court.
King’ori who is the current CEO of the bank has since pleaded to the charges on behalf of the bank.
However, some of the accused persons object the move saying they are not comfortable with the same as they believe the Bank has no good faith in them because it intends to place blame on them over the alleged transactions.
“We do not support the settlement being pursued since we have no confidence that Family bank has the best interest for our clients,” said lawyer Wangai Wanjohi who is representing Josephine Wairi, customer service supervisor.
“My clients are suffering due to this case and we pray that the mention be the last one granted to the bank so that if nothing is coming out of the negotiations, they be allowed to proceed with the matter so that they can clear their names,” Wanjohi submitted.
The magistrate granted the defence the last adjournment and warned that the court will not entertain any more delays in the case.
He directed the case to be heard on 21st and 22nd 2018 if the negotiations fail.
