Maverick Aoko has brought attention to a troubling case involving a KCB bank employee who took her own life after refusing to sign papers linked to a claimed multi-billion shilling deal. According to details shared, the unnamed woman at KCB declined to approve documents connected to what appears to be a large-scale attempt to extract funds that never existed in the bank’s systems.
On 28 November 2025, Foxcapital stated it expected an incoming transfer of €978.68 million, roughly Sh147.86 billion, from a British firm called Bay Bionics Ltd through UBS in Switzerland.
Company representatives approached KCB’s Sarit Centre branch and headquarters in Nairobi, insisting the money be credited to their euro account.
Bank staff checked their records and the SWIFT system used for international transfers.
They found no trace of any such funds arriving. Without actual receipt of the money, KCB correctly refused to update the account balance.
When the bank later contacted UBS Switzerland for verification in August 2026, the Swiss bank confirmed the transaction details, payment instructions and purported SWIFT messages had not come from them. UBS stated the documents were not genuine and that it had never processed or approved any part of the claimed remittance.
Foxcapital then produced what it said were internal KCB documents. One was an alleged tech report supposedly signed by the bank’s Head of Compliance, John Ndegwa, claiming a computer glitch had trapped the money inside the system. Another was an anti-money laundering clearance certificate said to be signed by compliance manager Chanya Kombo.
KCB’s leadership examined these papers and found that neither manager had written or signed them. The documents also referred to a Head of IT Security position that does not exist in the bank’s structure. Both Ndegwa and Kombo later swore affidavits denying any involvement. The bank described the papers as fabrications aimed at securing a payout.
Faced with the bank’s refusal, Foxcapital hired lawyer Philip Nyachoti and filed High Court Commercial Suit No. E533 of 2026.
The company obtained temporary court orders requiring KCB to preserve the claimed funds. In practice this meant locking down zero, since the money had never arrived.
The risk remains that if a court were later convinced by the contested documents, the bank could be ordered to pay out Sh146.3 billion from its own reserves to cover a transaction that never took place.
The death of the KCB employee who refused to sign off on the papers raises serious questions about the pressure placed on bank staff when large disputed claims arise.
