A judge has sided with the Co-operative Bank of Kenya for flagging and freezing a bank account belonging to a union until confusion over signatories is resolved.
Mr Elijah Otieno Awach filed the case in May accusing Co-op Bank of flagging an account belonging to the Kenya Union of Water and Sewerage Employees, Buruburu branch, stopping withdrawals temporarily until the union resolved the issue of signatories to the account.
But Justice Byram Ongaya said the lender cannot be faulted for discharging its obligation by protecting the deposits credited in the account until the dispute at hand is resolved.
“The court, therefore, returns that the 1st respondent (Co-op Bank) has discharged its obligations as a bank per prevailing bank’s regulatory provisions so that the applicant cannot fault the bank at all,” the judge said.
Justice Ongaya said the lender is a neutral party to the dispute involving the union officials and bank signatories and it cannot be validly sued for executing its mandate.
