Creditor accuses DP Ruto-linked Amaco of hiding assets

An insurance company associated with Deputy President William Ruto is under scrutiny amid allegations that it is hiding assets from auctioneers for an NGO that claims an unpaid debt of Sh19 million.

The Mama Rael Memorial Foundation says the insurer, Africa Merchant Assurance Company (Amaco), has concealed assets and money held in bank accounts.

The two entities are embroiled in a court dispute that has also roped in Access Bank (formerly known as Transnational Bank Kenya PLC), which has been accused of aiding the insurer to conceal its actual account balances.

The healthcare organisation claims that Amaco and the lender submitted contradictory statements in court during proceedings in a protracted legal dispute that involved the settlement of the debt. Court papers indicate that one statement showed the accounts had a balance of Sh44.2 million and another showed nil.

Aggrieved by the contradictions, the NGO has written to the Commissioner of Insurance and the Insurance Regulatory Authority, complaining that Amaco’s attempt to hide the assets has made it difficult to execute a court order dated January 31, 2022 that allowed it to demand the money.

“Amaco failed to pay our client contrary to the court judgment, provisions of the Insurance Act and Regulations. The directors and officials of Amaco have unlawfully concealed their assets and proceeds in bank accounts thus making it difficult to execute against it,” says the NGO in the letter.

The court dispute started in 2018 and stemmed from Amaco’s breach of an insurance contract by failing to compensate the foundation.

In court the NGO is seeking orders allowing it to attach the bank accounts of the insurer so as to recover the debt.

It also wants the court to summon the CEO of Access Bank PLC, Mr Herbert Wigwe, to confirm the accounts and cash in the bank accounts owned by Amaco.

Mr Wigwe also needs to confirm the authenticity and details of the statement tendered in court by Amaco and declare details of any other account the insurer has with the lender.

Court papers indicate that on December 7, 2021 the High Court directed the bank to show cause why it should not be ordered to pay the money Amaco owes the NGO.

On March 8, 2022 another court ordered Access Bank to supply Amaco’s bank account statements for a period covering at least three months between November 2021 and January 2022.

The statement that was produced showed that the insurer had Sh44.2 million as of July 2021 but it did not indicate how the sum was utilised, as it produced another statement showing the balance was nil.

“There are reasonable doubts relating to the completeness and authenticity of the bank statements by the bank. The actions and omissions of the bank are deliberate to delay payment of the decretal amount,” said the NGO in its court papers filed by its lawyer Henry Kurauka.

The lawyer argued that producing two contradictory statements “confirms the bank is playing games to defeat the course of justice”.

The organisation adds that the bank had on January 21, 2022, through its advocate, stated that Amaco’s account had been closed and was no longer operational.

In an affidavit sworn by lawyer Isaac Kelvin Onyango, the NGO says it was further indicated that Amaco’s account had been closed and that the system could not generate the statement.

“However, his new statement showed a balance of Sh1,801,899 as at July 2021 which the NGO withdrew," said lawyer Kurauka.

"Whereas both bank statements sourced from the same bank [and the] same account should uniformly appear to be the same, the first bank statement was submitted on a Microsoft Excel format with variance of numbers and in the second bank statement has variance on dates and months, making both statements remain doubtful.”

The High Court will rule on the matter on August 1.