Kenyan Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), on Monday, withdrew fraud and money laundering charges it had filed against against Nigerian fintech startup, Kora.
The charges against the Nigerian startup by the Kenyan agency were filed in July following accusations of money laundering and card fraud in the eastern African country, with the ARA going further to freeze the accounts of the company.
However, new court documents released on Monday show that the ARA has filed a notice of withdrawal of the charges at the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division.
In the document which was filed by state counsel, Stephen Githinji, on behalf of ARA director, the agency said that it had withdrawn its suit in its entirety.
Another document issued by the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCIA), also confirmed that the agency has cleared Kora of any wrongdoing.
“Please note that investigations are now finalised. I would like to confirm that allegations of money laundering and card fraud against [Kora] were not established. Please treat this communication as final,” the DCI report said.
Kora’s Chief Operations Officer, Gideon Orovwiroro, in a statement, also confirmed the development.
“Kora has always maintained its innocence in this matter and we are glad that finally the ARA and the DCI have dropped all charges and ratified Kora.
“We’d also like to commend both agencies for their professionalism and thoroughness in seeing this investigation to the conclusive end,” says
“We are delighted to get back to building the most robust payment product on the African continent. We have some exciting announcements coming soon, including multi-currency bank account products for African businesses.
“This will empower merchants to have bank accounts in GBP, EUR, USD and other in-demand currencies. Kora is excited about this development as it is further proof of its commitment to enrich the quality of merchants’ payments and build more meaningful financial products.”