The High Court in Mombasa has allowed a former Absa Bank employee to file a witness statement in the Sh1.5 billion suit filed by New Mega Africa Limited

Justice Julius K. Ng’arng’ar found no grounds to block Evans Wekesa Murumba from file his witness statement in the banks longstanding case with the transport firm.

This means the bank has lost back to back court battles against New Mega Africa who sued the lender for data breach by sharing of its confidential information to third parties sabotage and solicitation.

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Mr. Murumba served as the Coast region head of commercial affairs for Absa bank and was the boss to Wycliffe makori and Sophie Omondi who are witnesses of the bank and are the ones accused by New Mega Africa of sabotaging, leaking information and soliciting for bribes before approvals.

This means that the court has successfully reviewed its ruling issued on 26th February 2024 and now is obliged to set aside a date for mentioning of the main case.

Murumba, through his lawyers had initially made an application dated 6th December, 2023 where he explained that his image stands to be damaged by virtue of the court proceedings.

“There is inherent risk that the court may proceed with the suit without the applicant / intended interest party being heard despite being mentioned adversely in the main suit,” the application reads.

He claimed that the case may have an effect in his civic and political life.

In the affidavit, Murumba disclosed that he had an employment contract with the bank between April 2019 to June 2022 when he tendered his resignation to venture into politics.

During his tenure his work included overseeing the Bank/ Client relationship where he admits he had several engagements with New Mega Africa and the bank’s senior officials at the Coast.

His affidavit also links Corporate Credit Manager Supporting Business Banking Wycliffe Makori for working with other employees to manipulate and swindle clients.

A separate witness account from one of the New Mega Africa directors David Abai also linked Makori and other employees for having received money in form of bribes to facilitate release of loans applied.

It is only last month when the court of Appeal refused to set up a three judge bench to hear the bank’s application seeking to overturn an injunction stopping it from auctioning property belonging to New Mega Africa

Absa bank has been hit by various cases of data breach leading to the loss of funds and customer confidentiality.
Other staff that have been accused of data breach include the recently sacked Nkrumah branch manager Thomas Macharia Mwangi.

In a recent ruling, Employment and Labour Relations Court in Mombasa ordered the bank to pay its former branch manager Thomas Macharia Mwangi Ksh. 2,300,000 in unpaid bonuses for the year 2022.

The court also mandated Absa to implement a 13% salary increment for Mr Macharia from January to May 2023, as per an earlier agreement, for his role as Nkrumah branch manager.

The suspension stemmed from allegations of Mr Macharia’s involvement in irregular overdraft facilities at the Nkrumah Road branch, an action reportedly spearheaded by a junior officer suspected of fraud and data breaches involving client information.

Initially, the suspension was set for 30 days but was extended on 14 April 2023.

The court had been told that on 17 March 2023, he was issued with a notice of suspension signed on behalf of Doufold Odanga, regional manager by one Serah Muthui who is the branch manager of the Nyali branch.

This was a junior officer to the claimant and who had fueled for his removal so that she could get a bigger position assisted by the brother Moses Muthui who holds a bigger position at the bank.

Serah has also widely been accused of involvement in corrupt dealings and interfering with marital homes especially on a recent case involving a 55-year-old man Elias Kariuki.