MPs want KCB probed over housing scandal

Members of the Chamber of Deputies’ Standing Committee on Economy and Trade have tasked the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to investigate whether Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) might have connived with the now defunct DN International proprietor in activities that saw several people lose their money. The committee members on Wednesday grilled RDB’s chief executive, Francis Gatare, over DN International’s failure to deliver a housing project yet some people had made down payments with hope to own homes in the proposed estate. The firm had also received supplies from several businesses, but neither the prospective homeowners nor the suppliers were paid back their money. According to the MPs, over 120 individuals and companies are now seeking help to recover a total of more than Rwf700 million. The committee had summoned Gatare in response to a petition from the affected parties who requested Parliament to help them recover their money. The now stalled estate, dubbed Green Park Villas, is located in Rusororo in Kigali city’s Gasabo District. A key element in the suspected connivance between KCB Bank and DN International, the MPs say, is how the bank accepted to disburse all the money to the developer without verifying whether progress was being made on the housing project. After completing about 10 homes out of the planned 50 units, DN International left its clients without delivering the homes to them or paying all the suppliers who supplied construction materials. After the owner of DN International, Nathan Lloyd, fled the country in 2011, KCB Bank seized the incomplete estate for over a Rwf1.5 billion loan it was owed by the realtor. But the bank did not take care of paying those who supplied construction materials or the prospective home owners who had made down payments for a house. Now, the MPs want RDB to investigate whether there was any connivance between Lloyd and KCB Bank agents as part of understanding how to help suppliers and ‘homebuyers’ who lost money in the housing project. RDB is the government agency that oversees investments in the country. “RDB should help us to analyse the possible collusion between KCB and DN International. It is clear that KCB may have played a role in this problem. I really don’t believe that KCB is clean on this issue,” said MP Pierre Claver Rwaka, a member of the committee. Other committee members also agreed that KCB Bank should be investigated so as to establish a number of things, including whether the bank indeed gave DN International the money as part of the loan, whether a list of people who paid money in advance to own homes did it through the same bank, and whether it is possible that Lloyd is currently still able to make transactions on his KCB Bank accounts even as he is on the run. “We need to understand whatever connivance that might have occurred,” said MP Henriette Mukamurangwa Sebera. Gatare promised the MPs that RDB will get in touch with KCB Bank to get as much information as possible and then report back to the parliamentary committee around mid next month. But he warned the MPs against jumping to conclusions, saying that the bank may have dealt with Lloyd, a Kenyan national, and believed in doing business with him just like any other person might have trusted him as a serious businessman. “We need to assess this issue with a sense of fairness so that we don’t cause other problems by trying to solve this one,” he told the legislators. When contacted KCB Bank Rwanda strongly denied any wrong doing. “We are a bank of international repute with a very strong international governance system especially with credit granting. We lent money to DN International just like we do to all other customers and unfortunately DN defaulted and did not honour the terms and conditions of the loan contract,’’ KCB Bank managing director Maurice Toroitich told The New Times yesterday. ‘‘As permitted by law, we proceeded to realize our security as we would in case of default by any other customer. All the loan contracts and the entire process of how we realised our security is available for review by any lawful party.” DN International has since been liquidated. As part of analysing the issue surrounding the petition over Green Park Villas, the parliamentary committee has consulted different stakeholders, including KCB Bank, as the financier and current owner of the project, the petitioners, as well as Rwanda Development Board, which had licensed DN International. After hearing from different stakeholders, the committee will submit its report to the Lower House, subsequent to which a plenary will agree on the way forward. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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MPs want KCB probed over housing scandal