National Bank of Kenya has filed a defamation case against Nation Media Group over newspaper articles it terms as malicious.
The bank, majority owned by the government, is demanding more than Ksh1 billion in damages, setting the stage for a major legal battle between the bank and Nation Media Group. This is the highest amount ever demanded for defamation in Kenya and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.
The suit arises from a story carried in the Sunday Nation of June 20 that portrayed the bank negatively.
The story, written by Andrew Teyie, is anchored on a letter to NBK chief executive Munir Sheikh Ahmed from Treasury Principal Secretary Dr Kamau Thugge, asking the the bank to liaise with the Privatisation Commission to conduct fresh due diligence before privatisation.
“This is to advise that at its meeting held on April 22, 2015, the Cabinet directed a halt to the intended disposal of government shares in NBK until a due diligence is conducted to establish the risks in the process,” Sunday Nation quoted the letter dated May 14, 2015.
NSSF has a 48.05 per cent stake in NBK while the government owns 22.5 per cent of the shares.
[crp]
