Lawyer quits investment firm's Sh146bn case against KCB

By  Joseph Wangui

Correspondent

Nation Media Group

The High Court has allowed a Nairobi-based law firm, Nyachoti and Company Advocates, to stop representing Foxcapital Investment Ltd in a Sh146 billion dispute with the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group.

The court subsequently gave the investment firm 14 days to appoint new lawyers and regularise its legal representation.

Justice Rhoda Rutto allowed the lawyers’ application to cease acting for the company, bringing a fresh twist to the case in which Foxcapital is seeking the release and crediting of a disputed foreign remittance.

The withdrawal follows an application by lawyer Philip Nyachoti, who said his lawfirm could no longer continue acting "without further, accurate and sufficient instructions" from Foxcapital.

The dispute centres on €976,675,835 (Sh146 billion) that Foxcapital says was sent from abroad in December 2025 to its KCB account for investment in Government Infrastructure Bonds and other projects.

It hired the lawfirm to pursue the release and crediting of the funds. They filed the suit and an urgent application on August 3, 2026.

The advocates obtained interim orders barring KCB from “trading with, interfering with, transferring, meddling and/or dealing” with the disputed foreign remittance.

But after KCB filed its response and supporting documents challenging the company's claim, the lawyer said his firm required further instructions from Foxcapital to continue acting.

The claim is also the subject of a Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) probe after KCB asked investigators to examine documents and SWIFT messages relied on by Foxcapital in support of the Sh146 billion claim.

KCB, in a letter to the DCI, alleged that some of the documents were falsified, saying UBS Switzerland AG had disowned documents attributed to it and that its own records showed no corresponding transaction.

 The court has now granted the application, with Foxcapital given 14 days to regularise its representation. It also scheduled the case for mention on October 27 to determine how the case proceeds.

The underlying dispute concerns a foreign remittance that Foxcapital says Bay Bionics Ltd sent through UBS Switzerland AG for credit to its KCB account.

Foxcapital says the money was intended to finance Government Infrastructure Bonds, public-private partnerships and renewable energy programmes under an October 21, 2025 partnership agreement with Bay Bionics.

The investment firm claims KCB received the money but failed to credit it to its account.

Its chief executive, David Akech, relied on alleged internal KCB records showing that the funds entered a pre-settlement suspense account after a system routing fault.

Mr Akech also cited an alleged April 17, 2026 incident report, a May 18 financial-crime review and a July 1 technical assessment. He said the documents showed that the transaction had been reviewed and that the failure resulted from a defect in KCB’s core banking system.

 KCB disputes receiving or holding the funds and has challenged documents relied on by Foxcapital.

The bank also says officials named in the disputed reports denied preparing or approving them. KCB said the discrepancies gave it “reasonable cause for concern that falsified documents are being used” to support Foxcapital’s claim.

The bank also said its name, systems and officials appeared to have been used “in an attempt to give legitimacy to a transaction that its records do not recognise and which the alleged originating bank has disowned.”

The allegations have not been determined by the court. The court has yet to decide whether the disputed remittance was received by KCB or is being held by the bank.

The court has scheduled the matter for October 27 for further directions.

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