Nairobi — Citibank on Friday denied claims by a brokers' lobby that final reconciliation for the 2008 Safaricom IPO accounts is yet to be done.

The bank, which headed a consortium of receiving financial institutions, said the process was completed in February last year, when the last stockbroker signed the certification form.

The consortium included Equity Bank, National Bank and Post Bank.

According to the bank's chief executive officer Ade Ayeyemi, all the selling agents signed agreements exonerating Citi from any blame.

"The last broker signed the certificate with us in February last year and, therefore, we completed the reconciliation at that time," said Mr Ayeyemi at a press conference in Nairobi.

However, the bank admitted holding Sh141.6 million on the instruction of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), since the cheques issued had not been presented for payment. The payments are for refunds following an oversubscription of nearly 500 per cent.

He called on those still holding the IPO cheques to cash them.

The fight back came after the Kenya Association of Stockbrokers and Investment Banks (Kasib) asked for a forensic audit on the IPO.

In several press statements and advertisements, Kasib has linked failure by the bank to make a final settlement with the financial problems facing many of its members.

Ngenye Kariuki Ltd was recently put under statutory management, with the lobby pointing a finger at Kenya's largest IPO.

But, according to information the Saturday Nation is privy to, the stockbroker was one of the last firms to sign the reconciliation forms with the bank.

All the 18 brokers involved in the offer as selling agents signed the forms.

"We really do not know why the brokers are raising the issues but we have not been approached by the regulators, either the CMA or the CBK (Central Bank of Kenya) on this.

"We operate within the law and respect institutions of the land," said Mr Ayeyemi.

More recently, the IPO was under focus in a watchdog audit report that indicated that some of the payments made to the planning team did not have supporting documents.