Legal Brief
Relief as Blue Shield
Shareholders win
liquidation case
Blue Shield was placed under statutory management on
September 16, 2011 after several years of complaints
by clients whose claims had been delayed. The firm was
the biggest insurer of PSVs – matatus and motorcycles
– by the time it was taken over by the regulator. The
underwriter’s life insurance arm-Shield Assurance-was
acquired by British firm Prudential Plc for Sh1.5 billion in
2014.
By george wainaina
[email protected]
Early last year a special IRA meeting resolved to
wind up Blue Shield, a move that was opposed by the
shareholders who filed an application seeking to stop the
regulator’s move. The shareholders claimed the winding
up is a ploy by the former Commissioner of Insurance
Sammy Makove to defeat ongoing investigations into
alleged embezzlement of funds by IRA officials and
receiver managers of the company.
On 1st of November 2017, Justice Francis Tuiyott
issued the orders temporarily barring the Insurance
Regulatory Authority (IRA) from liquidating Blue Shield
Insurance to allow the collapsed firm’s owners to
challenge a ruling that opened the door for its winding
up.
32 | THINK BUSINESS