The Employment and Labour Relations Court has ratified Absa Bank’s decision to fire a branch manager linked to suspicious transactions, including unauthorised access to customer accounts and interaction with a suspected fraudster.
The court found that Lilian Adhiambo’s sacking on November 29, 2019, was justified because she failed to exercise integrity and financial probity as head of the Absa Karen branch, resulting in cash losses due to illegal access to customers’ accounts.
“In these circumstances, I see no difficulty in finding that the respondent (the bank) has proven on a balance of probabilities that the claimant grossly misconducted herself,” the court said.
The court’s decision followed a dispute between Ms Adhiambo and Absa after she was dismissed following forensic investigations into suspicious transactions in which some customers lost more than Sh6.3 million through unauthorised cash withdrawals.
The investigations were triggered by suspicious transactions on three customer accounts at the Absa Karen branch in October 2019.
The bank invited investigators to review the transactions, including two that involved the withdrawal of a cumulative Sh3.6 million on October 13, 2019, from an account jointly held by two Absa customers.
Investigators also reviewed a transaction for Sh1,169,000 from a customer’s account and a cash withdrawal of Sh1,850,000 from another account.
The probe revealed that the transactions were fraudulent and recommended that Absa reimburse its customers and subject the officers involved to disciplinary action.
Court findings
“The reports indicated that the claimant authorised payment without carrying out the required due diligence checks, failed to see customers’ identification documents, made suspicious enquiries on the FCR (first call resolution) system, and had unexplained communications with a non-customer suspect,” the court said.
The reports indicated that the branch manager authorised the fraudulent transactions and actively interacted with suspected fraudsters in her office.
She also had phone calls with one suspected fraudster before the transactions.
Ms Adhiambo was suspended and later sacked after she was adversely mentioned in three forensic investigation reports dated November 4, 2019, for failing to prevent the fraud.
She claimed innocence and accused the bank of lacking fairness in the procedure leading to her dismissal.
She further claimed that the bank failed to furnish her with the investigation reports, which were necessary for her appeal.
Pay claims
She demanded 12 months’ pay for unfair dismissal at Sh6,493,455, one month’s notice pay of Sh500,145, and service pay at one month’s salary for every year worked for 20 years at Sh10,062,900.
She also sought Sh575,022 for 24 unpaid leave days, Sh104,922 for days worked from March 1, 2019, to March 18, 2019, and a 40 percent discount on an outstanding Sh13,860,580.60 loan balance with Absa.
Absa maintained that it acted rationally because customer funds exceeding Sh6.3 million disappeared under the branch manager’s watch.
“I have found that the dismissal of the claimant was fair and lawful… I have also found that the claimant is entitled to leave of 24 days, being Sh575,022,” the judge said.
