Nigerian Investors In Court Over $11m Flutterwave Cash Frozen In Kenya
No fewer than 2,000 Nigerian investors have petitioned the Kenyan courts to unfreeze Sh1.4 billion locked in Safaricom and four banks, saying they were swindled in transactions involving Africa-focused payments giant Flutterwave, Business Daily reports.
The Nigerians said in a petition that they were swindled of billions of shillings through a sports betting platform, 86 Football Technology Limited that used Flutterwave to process the payments.
The 2,468 West Africans now want Sh1.44 billion ($12,040,208) separated from the Sh6.6 billion frozen in July in 62 bank accounts at Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Equity Bank, Ecobank and UBA Bank and in 19 Safaricom paybill numbers under Kenya’s anti-money laundering laws.
Morris Ebitimi Joseph, one of the investors said:
I believe that the issuance of an order compelling Guaranty Trust Bank, Equity Bank and Ecobank to deposit the sums excluded in the bank account of our advocates, justice shall be served to the 2,468 interested parties who were swindled of their hard-earned money through the scheme.
The claim made by the applicant/intended interested party represents the interest of 2,468 persons, thus occasioning monumental public interest. Failure to expeditiously determine whether the application is in like fashion constitutes substantive and irreparable injustice.
Adebayo Abiodemi, one of the 2, 468 investors, said:
I have sufficient reason to believe that 86 Football Technology Limited was a fraudulent scheme looking to default unsuspecting investors and traders.
Flutterwave said:
We have been in constant engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya to ensure that we provide all the requirements.