National Building Society boss suspended

National Building Society boss suspended
Published: 06 July 2017
NATIONAL Building Society (NBS) managing director, Ken Chitando, has been sent on three months forced leave to pave way for an audit into the bank's financial accounts, after indications that the one-year-old institution could have lost millions of dollars through underhand dealings.

An NBS board member who spoke to the Financial Gazette in confidence, confirmed Chitando's suspension.

NBS, which is wholly owned by the National Social Security Authority (NSSA), was established in May last year to avail affordable loans to low income earners for low-cost accommodation.

Chitando was initially given a three-week suspension on June 9 but the NBS board extended the suspension period to three months last week to allow for a comprehensive audit after a preliminary investigation discovered irregularities.

"We put the MD on forced leave for three weeks to allow for a team of investigators to look into some irregularities which we had been alerted to. Certain things have since cropped up and the board felt it necessary to extend the suspension to three months," said the board member, who, however, did not give further details. But NSSA and NBS sources said Chitando was being investigated over anomalies in the issuance of mortgage loans.

Audit firm, Grant Thornton, has been roped in to do the audit. An internal audit team initially unearthed the alleged irregularities.

The NBS seeks to help the majority of the country's citizens who are not formally employed and many others in formal employment who earn very low salaries to access mortgage at affordable rates as compared to those offered by commercial banks.

Besides low salaried employees, NBS's other targeted market include vendors, cross border traders, artisanal miners and subsistence farmers who are currently side-lined from traditional mortgage financing.

NBS also plans to establish a national health insurance scheme to cover these markets as well as provide them with seed capital to start businesses.
- fingaz
Tags: NBS,

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