Kenyan High Court has frozen another KSh400.6 million in three bank accounts and 19 Safaricom M-Pesa pay bill numbers belonging to Nigerian start-up Flutterwave on suspicions of card fraud and money laundering.
The assets including millions held in two accounts at UBA Bank, one account at Access Bank, and 19 M-Pesa pay bills were frozen after the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) applied to block the transfer or withdrawal, pending the filing of a petition to have the money forfeited to the government.
According to reports, the frozen funds include KSh110 million in a UBA account, another US$ 556,622 (KSh66.7 million), KSh29.1 million in an Access Bank account, and KSh68, Sh112, and KSh14.5 million across 19 Safaricom Paybill numbers.
Justice Grace Nzioka barred the companies from withdrawing, transferring, or dealing with the money, pending ARA’s probe.
In her ruling Justice Nzioka stated, “A preservation order be and is hereby issued prohibiting 1st respondent or his agents or representative from transacting, withdrawing, transferring, using any other dealings in respect to the money held in the account.”
The agency also pointed out in court filings that the bank accounts received millions of shillings whose source is suspected to be money laundering and card fraud.
The freezing order has been issued just two months after four Kenyans and the Flutterwave’s 62 bank accounts totaling more than Sh6.2 billion were also frozen for similar reasons.
The transactions in the earlier case were done using cards issued by the same bank, at the same point, on the same day, raising suspicion of card fraud.
In the latest case, ARA said debits amounting to Sh136 million, which included chargebacks, reversals, and refunds are an indication of card fraud.
Flutterwave has not yet released an official statement in response to the latest accusation.