Global: German lender rejects Sh785m wired to CBK

Standard Chartered Bank in Frankfurt, Germany, rejected Sh785 million wired into a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) account by Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) as refund for excess pay from Kenya Power that is under a parliamentary probe.

The German lender rejected the refund for excess payment of idle power charges paid in 2018, citing a lack of sufficient details of the ultimate beneficiary of the millions of shillings paid to the CBK account.

It also demanded supporting documents for the pay amid increased oversight by German financial regulator BaFin for money laundering breaches, which has seen lenders in the European country slapped with multibillion-shilling fines.

Parliament is currently investigating how Kenya Power made the excess payment to LTWP and why the utility and State officials have been hesitant to receive the money from the wind power producer.

The Marsabit-based power firm says it transferred the cash to the Frankfurt account in December after Kenya Power provided the CBK bank details for the transfer.

But Standard Chartered Bank in Germany rejected the cash and returned it to LTWP account amid claims it failed to meet the customer due diligence requirements, terming the cash transfer suspicious.