Yesterday, the High Court sitting in Nairobi awarded Journalist Mwenda Njoka Kshs. 1 million for erroneous entry into Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) made by Stanbic Bank.
The case was which was lodged by KTK Advocates on behalf of the journalist, found Stanbic Bank guilty of the crime.
Njoka and his wife, Hilda Kaari, had sued the bank and Credit Reference Bureau Africa Ltd on August 29, 2012, seeking special damages of Ksh 5 million , general damages for injurious falsehoods, costs and interest against the defendants on allegations the bank jointly and severally caused the listing of their names in the CRB as loan defaulters.
After the media broke the story of the court’s decision, KTK Managing Partner Lawyer Donald B. Kipkorir shared more information on Twitter stating:
“In Nbi Hccc No. 549 of 2012, Mwenda Njoka vs CfC Stanbic Bank, High Court holds CfC Stanbic liable for passing incorrect info to Credit Reference Bureau to list our client, Mwenda, when he had long repaid his loan. Trial Judge awards Kshs.1m against CfC Stanbic for wrong listing.”
Other Kenyans soon followed and asked DBK if he can help them in a similar issue, ‘How can you assist me on similar case? How can one reach you?’, asked a Twitter user by the name Mollel
Another user has earlier shared the same predicament with another local bank (KCB Bank Group), stating that it had erroneously put him in CRB.
A follow-up with this second user confirms that KCB was indeed in the wrong and has since corrected the issue.
CRB Systems Down
Today, a call to a local bank to check for the progress of a loan product revealed that the system used by Banks to check the credit status of clients is currently down, meaning non-functional.
What does this mean?
Are banks afraid of what happened at the courts yesterday?
Are banks now rushing to clean up their systems to avoid the Stanbic – Njoka scenario?
Anyways, Belgut MP Nelson Koech wrote to parliament a few weeks ago intending that the CRB law be repealed, despite the imminent loss of jobs.
Time will tell.
