Former National Social Security Fund (NSSF) investment manager, Francis Zuriel Moturi, has been fined over KES 2.0 billion after the High Court dismissed his appeal against a lower court’s ruling.
Moturi, along with three others from the now-defunct Discount Securities Limited, faced charges of conspiracy to defraud and deceiving a principal in a case that has spanned nearly two decades. While Moturi’s co-defendants received fines of KES 1 million and two years in prison, and KES 800 million, Moturi himself was fined KES 1 million and KES 2.4 billion.
Discount Securities served as NSSF’s stockbrokers in the mid-2000s before collapsing in 2008. Prosecutors revealed that as an investment manager, Moturi sent several memos to the Managing Trustee of NSSF, falsely claiming that Discount Securities Ltd, the fund’s stockbroker at the time, had purchased shares in major companies like KCB, Standard Chartered, and Nation Media Group.
In addition to Moturi, the other individuals charged were David Murungu, Executive Director of Discount Securities Limited (DSL); Isaac Nyakundi Nyamongo, Finance Manager DSL; and Wilfred Munyoro Weru, Investments Manager DSL.
DSL was estimated to have over Kes 1 billion when it collapsed, amidst a wave of failures in the investment sector that also included Nyaga Stockbrokers and Francis Thuo and Company. The NSSF had utilized DSL as a stockbroker, paying Kes 1.4 billion before discovering that no shares had been bought on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
“Justice Sifuna ruled that the sentences imposed were neither unreasonable, excessive, harsh, nor illegal,” stated the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
“He also found that Moturi betrayed his employer, breached public trust, and deceived pensioners who are a significant and vulnerable segment of society,” the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said in a statement on the protracted case. “The EACC views this case as significant for two reasons: the large amount of taxpayers’ money stolen from the Fund in breach of public trust, and the deterrent nature of the conviction delivered by the Magistrates Court.”
