Kenyanbulletin.com has learnt of unethical behaviour portrayed by Spire Bank CEO Onesmus Muia; this is intimidation and using police officers to satisfy personal interests.
Reports reaching us indicate that Mr. Muia who is the interim CEO after Norman Ambunya exit hired police officers from Ruiri to track down and threaten human right activists Alex Maina and Eric Omeny; whistle blowers who revealed Mr. Muia’s fraud at Spire Bank.
The duo had as well prepared a dossier revealing how Mr. Muia was working unlawfully with law firms to raise fabricated fees against the bank which will then be sent to Mr. Muia’s personal bank account; Family Bank, Ruiru to be precise.
As of the third week of January, Mr. Muia’s personal bank account had $758 261 (Sh76,504,212.81).
When contacted, Mr. Muia denied the allegations confidently asking our source to as well confirm with Family Bank or Ruiru Police.
“Nothing factual here…please confirm with family Bank directly, you can also confirm with Ruiru Police as well, nothing at all,” said Mr. Muia
This comes at a time when the teachers-owned bank is teetering on the brink of collapse. The bank has piled up losses over the last decade with Mr. Muia’s and Mr. Ambunya’s cases contributing largely to it.
The bank is now struggling with critical capital and liquidity deficiencies, even as it seeks capital injections from its shareholders and an unnamed strategic investor.
Norman Ambunya’s exit
August, 2019, Norman Ambunya quit Spire Bank.
In his letter to the bank chairman, Mr Ambunya underlined several challenges the bank faces.
“I summarise the key matters confronting the bank that require immediate resolution otherwise the financial sustainability of the bank is at a huge risk which, have been presented before in board committees since 2017,” reads part of Mr Ambunya’s letter.
Also adding that,
“They include immediate stable funding without which deposit mobilisation efforts are unlikely to yield sufficient results for financial sustainability. The deposits held at the bank are largely for working capital and are very short term. The customers use the funds on a daily basis.”
He further cited falling interest income from dwindling lending, leading to shrinking margins, likely increase in losses and capital.
“From the beginning of the year, customer deposits net growth was on a rising trend and by the end of February we had hit the Sh6 billion mark while the shareholder deposits (Sacco) had consistently been on a downward trend,” he says.
