The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji on Monday told the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee that the Diamond Trust bank management tried to influence his office not press charges in connection with financing the January 15 Dusit terror attack.
The committee is chaired by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo.
Haji accused the bank of failure to report huge and irregular withdrawal to the Central Bank of Kenya as required.
CBK guidelines require that banks report any transaction beyond Sh1 million. “They ( the bank’s management) have been running around trying to influence us so as not to charge them,” Haji said.
“This money was not just going anywhere, it was going to Jilib town, which is the headquarters of al-Shabaab.”
The suspect behind the transactions was also involved in a suspicious M-Pesa transaction with his daily mobile transactions hitting Sh2 million through numerous mobile numbers.
“DTB failed to report suspicious transactions. This was a transaction that took place in their branch in Eastleigh yet they know that banks have been cautioned to be extra careful in some areas.”
Branch manager Sophia Mbogo on Wednesday was charged with aiding and abetting the Dusit attack. She was accused of failing to report transactions involving Sh34,736,550 suspected to have funded the attack.