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The family of businesswoman Ann Njeri Njoroge has broken its silence and defended her amidst deepening controversy over the importation and alleged theft of Sh17 billion worth of 100,000 metric tonnes of diesel.
Daughter Sarah Wanjiku told Citizen TV in an interview aired Tuesday evening that their mother has been conducting the oil importation business over the last 33 years without cutting corners.
Wanjiku dismissed the stand taken by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) that her mother used forged documents to lay claim to the fuel cargo belonging to two companies.
She said the alleged rightful owners of the cargo were the ones who forged her mother’s genuine import papers and superimposed their details on them.
“It is these exact papers just as they are, removing the names Ann’s Imports and Exports Enterprises and putting in the names of those companies,” she said.
In a press statement on Monday, KPA listed Aramco Trading Fujairah as the shipper and Galana Energies as the consignee.
KPA chairman Benjamin Tayari and managing director Captain William Ruto termed Njeri’s claim that she imported the cargo as hot air.
“The consignees of the respective portions of the bulk cargo are listed in the manifest submitted by the ship’s agent and KPA confirms that Ann’s Import and Export Enterprises Limited is not one of the manifested consignees,” Tayari said at the KPA boardroom.
He said the fuel consignment was loaded on MT Haigui with 93, 460 metric tonnes of oil between September 20-28 and departed for anchorage at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for cargo dopping and sampling.
Tayari said 49, 091 metric tonnes of the cargo was destined for Kenya while the remainder, 44,3687 metric tonnes, was transit cargo for neighbouring counties including Uganda, South Sudan and the DRC.
But Wanjiku dismissed this version of the story saying the 93, 460 metric tonnes was what was found after the Coast Guard in Mombasa detained the vessel.
“Originally the cargo was 100,000 metric tonnes as was first stated because nobody imports 93,000. The 93,000 is what was found after what had been taken they claimed was testing. You don’t test with over 6,000 metric tonnes,” she said.
On Tuesday morning, Njeri resurfaced at the high court in Mombasa days after she allegedly went missing after recording a statement at the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road, on Thursday last week.
She said she visited the sleuths on the advice of Energy CS Davis Chirchir after a dispute emerged over the ownership of the Sh17 billion oil.
“I was waiting for my import permit and went to see CS Chirchir who told me the fuel was not mine but belonged to a firm called Galana. I told him I had not signed any deal with Galana, so the cargo was mine. He advised me to go to DCI to record a statement,” she said.
Njeri had showed up at the court in the company of her lawyer Cliff Ombeta for the mention of a case she had earlier filed on November 8.
She claims she said she was blindfolded and dumped at Nyayo Estate in Nairobi by people she claimed were masked state officers after being questioned and held overnight.
“I told them the petroleum is mine and I have all the documents. They then told me they did not see any wrong and that the petroleum was indeed mine,” she said.
“They then dumped me at Nyayo Estate.”
BY EMMANUEL WANJALA