The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy has grilled Family Bank Chief Executive Officer  Ms. Rebecca Mbithi over failure to recover Kshs. 45.2 Million Pasha Loans advanced to entrepreneurs to set up information hubs across the country.

The Committee led by Chairperson Hon. David Pkosing (Pokot South) met the Bank CEO, as part of an ongoing probe into circumstances leading to the onboarding of Family Bank by Information, Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) to advance the said loans on November 3, 2010.

Controversies surrounding non-recovery of the said loans are part of the audit queries raised by the Auditor General's report for the Authority's books for Financial Years 2018/2019 to 2020/2021.

According to the Auditor General there were doubts on recoverability of the pending loan repayments, as ICTA had already terminated its contract with the Bank before recovery or the money.

"Was this a deliberate scheme to sink taxpayer's money, and why is this trend so common in loans advanced by the Government?" Hon. Pkosing asked.

During her presentation, Ms. Mbithi explained that the Bank had hit a dead end in recovery of the money as some of the businesses to which the loans were advanced had already closed shop making it impossible to liquidate their assets to recover the owed sums.

According to the ICTA-Family Bank Contract, the Authority was to pay any advances still outstanding. The loans advanced to start-ups were not secured.

The Contract also bound the Bank to vet applicants for approval by ICTA, before advancing the loans.

Members also questioned the process leading to the selection of the Bank for the partnership with ICTA.