The recent appointment of Sitoyo Lopokoiyit as the new Chief Executive for Personal and Private Banking at Absa Group has raised more questions than celebrations.
While the bank has praised his experience in transforming M-PESA, a cloud of serious allegations and a recent High Court ruling cast a long shadow over his career.
The trouble begins with a landmark judgment delivered in May 2026, when the High Court ordered Safaricom to pay innovator Peter Nthei Muoki a staggering Sh1.4 billion in damages for stealing his idea for a child-friendly M-PESA account.
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During the trial, evidence emerged that Lopokoiyit, who was then the Managing Director of M-PESA Africa, had dismissed Muoki’s pitch in 2021, claiming it was unworkable and that the company was already exploring similar ideas.
Just months later, Safaricom launched “M-PESA Go,” a product that bore striking similarities to the one he had rejected.
The court found that the company had infringed on Muoki’s copyright, and the judge drew an adverse inference from Safaricom’s failure to produce key documents during the proceedings.
This ruling has sparked outrage among Kenyans, with many questioning how Absa could hire an executive at the center of such a scandal.
But the controversy does not end with the M-PESA Go ruling. Old investigative reports have resurfaced, linking Lopokoiyit to the infamous SportPesa heist.
As Safaricom’s Head of M-PESA Strategy, he is accused of facilitating the transfer of the betting company’s crucial Paybill numbers to a rival entity owned by businessman Ronald Karauri.
These reports allege that the move, which effectively stole the SportPesa brand from its original owners, was made possible through a personal connection.
It is claimed that Lopokoiyit is married to Karauri’s sister, raising serious questions about conflicts of interest and corporate governance.
While these allegations have never been subject to a conclusive court ruling, their existence alone is troubling.
Critics are now asking whether Absa performed proper due diligence before making this appointment.
Banking regulations require senior executives to be fit and proper persons, yet Absa is entrusting its retail banking division to a man whose career is now defined by allegations of intellectual property theft and facilitating corporate fraud.
The timing of this appointment, coming so soon after the court ruling, suggests that Absa either overlooked these issues or chose to ignore them. Either way, it does not reflect well on the bank’s commitment to ethical leadership.
Customers and stakeholders alike will be watching closely to see how this situation unfolds, but for now, the questions surrounding Lopokoiyit’s past remain unanswered.
