Equity Bank Denies Issuing Sh15 Billion Loan to Ruto's Turkish Associate Harun Aydin

Equity Bank says it does not have any banking relationship with deported Turkish national Harun Aydin.

Aydin, an associate of Deputy President William Ruto, was removed from Kenya early this month for allegedly engaging in money laundering activities.

Appearing before National Assembly Finance and National Planning Committee on Wednesday, Equity Managing Director Gerald Warui said Aydin does not hold an account with the bank and has never been given any loan.

“He (Harun Aydin) does not operate and does not have a banking relationship with us neither does he have a loan with Equity Bank,” Warui stated.

The committee had invited the lender to shed more light on the alleged issuance of a Sh15 billion credit facility to Aydin. It launched an inquiry after Ruto’s proclamation that through a single phone call he helped an investor secure a Sh15 billion loan from Equity Bank for setting up a pharmaceutical company in Uganda. 

“When I was in Uganda like a month ago, the President (Museveni) invited me to open a pharmaceutical company dealing with covid vaccines. I was invited because the investor behind that company came right here in my office two years ago and asked me to connect him with Equity bank since he wanted a loan to invest in,” Ruto said in an interview.

“I picked the phone, called Equity, and told them to assist this investor from East Africa. This investor was successful and obtained a Sh15 billion loan (150 million USD) and he went and set up that factory.”

Warui told the House committee that he is not aware of any such phone call from the deputy president. “From where I sit, I am not aware of that phone call. But maybe given time I can try to find out because we have many senior people at the bank both at the Group and Kenyan level. We also have many board members so it might not have come to my attention whom he might have called,” Warui said.

He also clarified that the maximum amount of credit a single client can secure in Uganda is Sh2.3 billion.

“We have not lent Sh15 billion to any of those two customers in Uganda. When it comes to Uganda, the amount that can be lent to a single customer is capped to a limit of Sh2.3 billion because of the capital requirement,” he added