Exclusive: Ann Njeri’s Family Breaks Silence Amid Escalating Sh17bn Oil Saga
In a growing controversy surrounding the importation and alleged theft of 100,000 metric tonnes of diesel valued at Sh17 billion, the family of businesswoman Ann Njeri Njoroge has broken its silence and defended her.
In an interview that aired on Tuesday evening, daughter Sarah Wanjiku stated that their mother has operated the oil importation business with integrity for the past three decades.
Wanjiku refuted the Kenya Ports Authority’s (KPA) assertion that her mother fraudulently obtained documents to claim petroleum cargo that belonged to two different companies.
She claimed that the purported legitimate proprietors of the cargo were responsible for forging and superimposing their information onto her mother’s authentic import documents.
“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.
KPA identified Galana Energies as the consignee and Aramco Trading Fujairah as the exporter in a press release dated Monday.
Benjamin Tayari, chairman of the KPA, and William Ruto, managing director, dismissed Njeri’s assertion that she imported the cargo as “hot air.”
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“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.
According to him, the fuel shipment was transferred onto the MT Haigui along with 93,460 metric tonnes of oil from September 20-28. The vessel then set sail for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for cargo doping and sampling.
According to Tayari, the cargo was divided as follows: 49,091 metric tonnes were intended for Kenya, and 44,3687 metric tonnes were in transit cargo for neighboring countries such as Uganda, South Sudan, and the DRC.
However, Wanjiku refuted this account, stating that the 93,460 metric tonnes were discovered after the Coast Guard apprehended the vessel in Mombasa.
“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.
Njeri reappeared at the high court in Mombasa on Tuesday morning, days after she purportedly vanished on Thursday of last week, after submitting a statement at the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road.
She said she visited the sleuths on the advice of Energy CS Davis Chirchir after a dispute emerged over the proprietorship of the Sh17 billion oil.
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“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, accompanied by her attorney Cliff Ombeta, appeared in court to have a case referenced that she had previously filed on November 8.
She asserts that after being questioned and detained overnight, she was blindfolded and deposited at Nyayo Estate in Nairobi by individuals she claimed were masked state officers.
“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.
“I was subsequently dumped at Nyayo Estate.”
Exclusive: Ann Njeri’s Family Breaks Silence Amid Escalating Sh17bn Oil Saga
