Kenya’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) has been denied its request to withdraw its second case against Flutterwave, an African fintech giant, by the country’s High Court.
The ARA had frozen $3 million belonging to Flutterwave, Hupesi Solutions, and Adguru Technology Limited in August 2022 on suspicion of money laundering and fraud.
The ARA had also frozen $52.5 million belonging to Flutterwave and six other companies two months prior. The ARA had filed a lawsuit after each seizure, with the first one being withdrawn in March 2023.
Despite the ARA including an affidavit by its investigator and a trove of documents, including bank statements, as evidence that the millions in the fintech’s bank and mobile money accounts were proceeds from crime and money laundering, High Court judge Nixon Sifuna rejected the request for withdrawal.
Judge Sifuna noted that the ARA, being a public-funded body, had failed to provide reasons for the withdrawal, including “negotiations or settlement, or the terms of such negotiations or settlement.” The judge also sought to know why the agency claimed to no longer have any evidence of the alleged crime.
Judge Sifuna said the agency must be guided by public interest, and its decisions or actions have to “be open and beyond reproach in the public eye.” The ruling will further delay Flutterwave’s prospects of getting a license to operate in Kenya. Flutterwave was founded in 2016 to facilitate cross-border payments in Africa. It has since grown to include a remittance service, an e-commerce platform for small businesses called Flutterwave Store, and Tuition, an education payments platform. It raised $350 million last year at a $3 billion valuation, making it one of the most valuable startups in Africa. However, it has had to deal with a string of controversies, including claims of harassment, funds misappropriation, and mismanagement.
Source: Techcrunch
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