Imperial Bank depositors will now receive up to 10 per cent of their deposits after the High Court clarified a ruling that had left the lender’s shareholders and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) divided over the payout.

Justice George Odunga said Monday that he had not in any way in his November ruling stopped the payout by CBK’s Kenya Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), the receiver manager of Imperial Bank.

The money will be paid out through NIC, DTB or KCB banks.

After Justice Odunga’s November 9 ruling, CBK said it had received the court’s nod to start disbursing depositors’ savings in Imperial Bank and issued a statement to that effect. Meanwhile, the lender’s shareholders said the court order had barred any undertaking on Imperial Bank by the regulator as they negotiate a recovery plan.

The division on the interpretation of the ruling saw both the shareholders and depositors head back to court to seek clarification.

“Further CBK and KDIC were directed not to drive the bank into liquidation unless and until all options of reviving the bank have been considered. The court did not stop and even during the pendency of the application had not stopped the respondents in conjunction with NIC, KCB and DTB banks from disbursing funds to the depositors,” Justice Odunga clarified in his January 9 ruling.

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The Imperial Bank depositors’ lobby had, through a petition last month, requested Justice Odunga to clarify his November judgment and state whether it allowed KDIC to continue with the deposits payout.

Shareholders accused CBK of distorting the ruling which had ordered them to consider proposals for reviving the collapsed lender, a move they claim the regulator is not keen on.

“The communication from CBK omits any reference to key parts of the judicial review ruling and, in particular, the content of the orders. It distorts the nature of the ruling, suggesting that our application was unsuccessful and that CBK and KDIC are now free to continue their own course of action in respect of the Imperial Bank without restraint. This is not true,” the shareholders’ argued.

Imperial Bank was placed under receivership on October 13, 2015, collapsing with a total of Ksh87 billion ($850 million) of depositors money, largely due to irregularities and malpractices which exposed depositors, creditors and the banking sector to financial risk.