Flutterwave founder and CEO Olugbenga Agboola appealed to the government to issue his company with a new operational license by December 2023 after being cleared of charges relating to laundering Ksh6.2 billion.
Speaking in Nairobi on Thursday, February 9, Agboola further announced that Flutterwave had put in place plans to expand within the Kenyan market reassuring its partners and stakeholders across the continent that they had complied with all regulations and laws in Kenya.
The CEO arrived in Nairobi to connect with the company’s local staff and request a meeting with the Central Bank Kenya (CBK), which had imposed an embargo on the farm.
“We are pleased to have resolved this issue so that we can resume our work with our strategic partners in Kenya providing innovative payment solutions to businesses and individuals in one of Africa's largest and most dynamic economies.
“Flutterwave has been cleared of any wrongdoing and has fully cooperated with all the review stages,” Agboola stated.
Flutterwave's accounts had initially been frozen in July 2022 in accordance with local anti-money laundering regulations because it lacked a license at the time and ordered local banks to stop doing business with it.
Soon after, a section of investors who were in business with the firm filed a suit seeking to be enjoined in the case claiming that an order freezing its accounts had directly affected them.
The investors claimed that the court orders freezing the funds and the subsequent forfeiture proceedings by the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) had affected them.
In her ruling, on Thursday, February 9, the judge denied the investors' request for a joinder on the grounds that the ARA had since filed a notice in court seeking to drop the suit against Flutterwave and have the asset freezing orders lifted.
"I have carefully considered the joinder application by the proposed interested party and my finding is that it has no merit.
“This is because ARA has already indicated that it wishes to withdraw the suit against the respondents, and thus the properties or assets are no longer forfeitable," Justice Maina noted in her ruling.
Moreover, the Flutterwave suit was scheduled to be mentioned on February 14, 2023, when ARA is expected to confirm its withdrawal decision.
