From missing TV to printer and coffee maker: How Imperial Bank manager lost job

The Likoni Branch Imperial Bank receiver manager was fired in 2018 for allegedly removing a 54-inch Samsung TV, 1 colour printer and 1 coffee maker from the bank without permission.

According to court papers, the Central Bank of Kenya accused the manager of unlawfully taking the items from Imperial Bank in Likoni to his house in Kiembeni, Mombasa.

This was revealed in an appeal by CBK against the decision by the magistrate's court to award the said manager some Sh5 million for wrongful dismissal.

The High Court has set aside the ward.

CBK claims that the manager purported to transfer the items from the bank's Likoni branch to another branch in Kizingo, on Mombasa Island, without disclosing it to CBK or the Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) regional manager.

The bank said the manager did not obtain and sign the Imperial Bank Official Asset Movement Forms prior to removing the impugned items from the bank but generated his own forms, which he used to unlawfully remove the items from the bank.

The manager had been employed by CBK in 2015 as an assistant bank officer and was seconded to Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC) and deployed to Imperial Bank Limited, Likoni Branch, in Mombasa, which was under receivership, as a bank receiver manager.

He was arrested and charged with stealing and handling stolen goods, but was acquitted by Principal Magistrate Gathogo Sogomo for lack of evidence.

Sogomo found that the manager took the items to his house, but held that he did not have any criminal intent.

The magistrate awarded the manager Sh5 million against CBK for wrongful prosecution.

He further awarded the manager another Sh150,000 as special damages on account of legal expenses incurred.

While awarding damages, the magistrate noted that the accused was in the management cadre of CBK and that he lost his career and ‘its trappings’ and had to contend with stigma and humiliation associated with being ‘frogmarched’ to the police station and dragged to court like a common rascal to answer to false and malicious charges.

The manager then filed a case before the Employment and Labour Court for wrongful termination, which is yet to be concluded.

However, Justice Jairus Ngaah said that all CBK did was report the missing items to the police and that it was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who decided to prosecute the manager.

The judge said that the prosecution of the manager was not an abuse of the court process, nor was it without reasonable and probable cause or maliciously instituted.

“The appellant (CBK) cannot be said to be responsible for the DPP’s decision to prosecute the 1st respondent (the manager) and, for this reason, no action would lie against the appellant for malicious prosecution,” said Justice Ngaah.

Justice Ngaah said the trial court ought to have determined whether CBK was justified in reporting to the police and if the DPP was justified in arraigning and charging the manager with theft.

According to the manager’s defence and reply to CBK’s demand letter, he took the subject items in good faith for repairs with a view to returning them immediately when they were repaired.

The manager said the delay in returning them was occasioned by his annual leave upcountry.

He informed the panel that if given time, about half an hour, he would avail himself of the items.

However, he was put in a van and taken to his house, where the items were collected.

The manager said the items ended up at his house when the stalls at Kongowea Market, where the repairer was based, were demolished.

“I had anticipated returning them immediately, but the fundi, after repairing, dropped them at my residence. I also wish to inform you that the state of shock that I was in contributed to the mix-up of items; thus, they ended up picking the wrong one. Sir, I am very remorseful and highly regret my action and hereby promise you that this will never happen again,” read part of the manager’s reply to CBK.

The manager told the court that there were internal disciplinary procedures that CBK could have employed to discipline him rather than prosecute him.

He said that as a result of the criminal case, he lost his job and had to dispose of his property for his family's upkeep and the education of his children.

The manager said in his capacity as the receiver manager, he had authority to incur expenses not exceeding Sh10,000 and that based on that authority, he removed from the bank the said electronic items, ostensibly for repairs.

He said that in his estimation, the cost of repairs of these items was not more than Sh. 10,000, and the removal of these items was recorded at the security desk at the bank’s entrance.

But CBK said it only learnt of its missing properties after one of its officers in the IT department, Mahommed Abubakar, noticed a television set which had been mounted on the wall was missing.

Abubakar brought this information to the attention of CBK’s officers in Mombasa, and upon an audit, the items were found missing.