TECHDIGEST – A Kenyan court has frozen Ksh400.6 million ($3.3 million) in Flutterwave’s accounts due to allegations of money laundering and card fraud.

On August 25, the court granted the Asset Recovery Agency’s (ARA) request to prevent Flutterwave from transferring or withdrawing funds from three bank accounts — two in United Bank for Africa (UBA) and one in Access Bank — and 19 Safaricom M-Pesa paybill numbers.

The court froze funds in UBA totaling Ksh110 million ($916,284) and Ksh66.7 million ($556,622), Access Bank totaling Ksh29.1 million ($242,399), and Safaricom M-Pesa totaling Ksh68 million ($566,430), Ksh112 million (932,944), and Ksh14.5 million ($120,783).

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This isn’t the first time this year. On similar grounds, the ARA was granted a court order in July 2022 freezing Sh6.2 billion ($52.5 million) spread across 62 bank accounts belonging to Flutterwave and seven other companies.

Now, according to the ARA filings, debits totaling Sh136 million ($1.13 million) in one of Flutterwave’s UBA bank accounts included chargebacks, reversals, and refunds, indicating that they were used for card fraud.

The agency also stated that the conversion of dollars into shillings in that account in a Ksh231 million transaction indicated a “layering and intermingling scheme.”

Recall that in July 2022, Korapay, a Nigerian fintech startup, and Kenya-based Kandon Technologies, a liquidity management provider, were accused of fraud and money laundering.

The case will be called up for hearing in November 2022.

Source: Tech point

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