A Kenyan woman is in the middle of a compensation row involving funds that were released by the United States to compensate victims of the 1998 terror attack.
The woman identified as Mary Ngunyi Muiruri was erroneously paid Ksh7.4 million in November 2020, money that was intended for a Mary Njoki Muiruri, a victim of the attack.
A US-based organization, the 1998 United States Embassy Bombing Qualified Fund, tasked with compensating victims of the 1998 terror attack, sued Mary Ngunyi Muiruri for receiving the money, spending it and allegedly refusing to refund it.
The Fund asked the High Court to compel her to refund the money. According to court documents, the fund intended to pay Mary Njoki Muiruri the money, but there was a mix up in middle names.
A representative of the Fund, Charles Marr, told the court that the name confusion was caused by a law firm that filed the petition on behalf of the terror attack victims.
“The law firm's error occurred as a result of the close similarity between the first defendant’s name and the intended lawful beneficiary. Except for their middle names, the first defendant and the intended lawful beneficiary have exactly similar names as they appear in the law firm’s database/records.
"Based on the explanation provided I verily believe that the law firm made a genuine mistake and error,” the court papers read in part.
The 1998 United States Embassy Bombing Qualified Fund enjoined a local bank in the petition, seeking to have it ordered to refund the money.
However, the Nairobi bank stated that Ngunyi has refused to consent to the reversal request. Further, the court documents revealed that she withdrew the funds by writing nine cheques between November 2020 and January 2021.
Notably, the local bank argued in court that it should not be held liable for Ngunyi's refusal to refund the money or respond to the petition.
Ngunyi maintained that she is the rightful owner of the money and the bank informed the Fund she had spent most of the cash.
The Fund had moved to court and given orders to freeze Ngunyi's account. The Fund also discovered that she had spent most of the money and the balance amounted to Ksh633,319.
