The financial impropriety case filed against Nigerian Fintech company, Flutterwave by the Kenyan government has been withdrawn. Flutterwave is a Nigerian Fintech company that provides payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across Africa.
Founded in 2016 by Olugbenga GB Agboola, Flutterwave attracted early funding from companies like Mastercard and CRE Venture Capitals. In 2021 after a number of funding rounds, Flutterwave hit unicorn status with 1 billion USD. The company was valued at over 3 billion dollars and had raised over $450 million in VC funding before the allegations came hitting on it.
Between July and August 2022, several allegations were sprung against the company, including money laundering, card frauds impersonation and insider trading. Flutterwave however denied all allegations and said they had proof. Refuting the allegations did not stop their accounts from being frozen by the Kenyan Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) as findings were being made and the allegations kept coming. In July, the governor of the Kenyan Central Bank, Patrick Njoroge accused Flutterwave of operating in the country without a valid license.
According to Rest Of World, ARA froze about $56.7 million in the company accounts. In the court filing, the ARA alleged that the bank accounts “were used as conduits for money laundering in the guise of providing merchant services,” and that Flutterwave had engaged in card fraud after one of the company’s bank accounts received 185 online payments with the same bank identification number and by “cards issued by the same bank, at the same point, on the same day.”
By August of 2022, investigative journalist, David Hundeyin hinted that if future President Ruto won, the case would be thrown out because Ruto is father in-law to one Alex Ezenagu whose name appeared multiple times in the suit filed by the ARA.
While a school of thought posited that the case was a political campaign smear on Ruto by the opposition, another opined that the Flutterwave CEO had too many closet dealings that made the allegations probable. Now however, all of the charges and other charges leveled against Flutterwave as more investigations were done, have been withdrawn. Charges were withdrawn in a Kenyan High Court document seen by Bloomberg and verified by Lawyer Representing Flutterwave, Robert Gitau.
