City Lawyer Danstan Omari has sued Kenya Commercial Bank for erroneously listing his name to CRB for defaulting a 63,000 loan when he does not have an account with them.
In a defamation suit filed in court, Omari through lawyer Shadrack Wambui says the case was a result of the injurious falsehood arising from false and malicious statements published by KCB.
Wambui says that in December last year, Omari approached Cooperative Bank seeking a loan facility. However, during the standard credit
background check, he was informed via email correspondence that he was negatively listed with the TransUnion Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) under loan reference no. AA16251DGCTW, which erroneously listed a non-performing loan account with arrears amounting to Sh 63,509.
That’s when he discovered that KCB was the listing institution and that the alleged arrears were related to a loan facility from 2015 that had been fully repaid via a check-off system.
Wambui says Prior credit reports had always reflected the Plaintiff’s good standing until this erroneous listing.
However, despite Omari’s communication to rectify the matter, subsequent CRB reports continued to reflect the same defamatory and false listing, leading to significant harm to the Plaintiff’s reputation and professional standing.
“KCB’s false statements portrayed Omari as financially irresponsible and unfit to receive credit facilities, thereby tarnishing his reputation as a highly respected Advocate and professional,” reads court documents.
He argues that KCB acted recklessly and with a total disregard for the truth, publishing false financial statements with the intent to harm the Plaintiff’s credit profile and professional standing.
Omari further says that KCB failed to issue notice of intention to submit the adverse information and acted without exercising due care and reasonable caution.
It was his argument that the defamatory statements were clearly calculated to tarnish the Plaintiff’s professional reputation, trustworthiness, and credibility.
Wambui says that the erroneous listing has made him unable to secure a loan with any bank due to the bad credit.
He says it has also affected his professional standing as an Advocate, Law Lecturer, and Political Analyst and his financial responsibility and
trustworthiness being called into question.
They want KCB to publish an unqualified retraction of all defamatory statements to the relevant Credit Reference Bureaus, acknowledging the falsity of the accusations and the harm caused to Omari’s reputation with a firm objective of correcting the negative listing and completely expunging it from his record.
