The management of a godown in Thika where the condemned sugar is said to have been stored has distanced itself from any blame in the disappearance of the goods.
Kings Commodities Limited general manager John Kariuki told MPs Tuesday that it only got mired in the scandal after it agreed to lease out a store in its premises to Vinepark limited-company contracted to distil the sugar.
Kariuki told the Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Cooperatives probing the matter that Vinepark was yet to offset a balance of Sh200,000 for the godown as per the lease agreement.
“They owe us...that money is yet to be paid to date,” he said.
According to Kariuki, Vinepark Limited through its owner Peter Mwangi only paid Sh100,000 as an acknowledgement fee for the three months it had booked the warehouse.
Kariuki also explained that once they give out a godown to a tenant they have no control over their businesses.
“It is in our culture that whenever we give out a godown to a tenant we only ask them to provide a quire book to the security who man the gate for them to record details of clients visiting them,” he said.
The Vinepark in question has Peter Mwangi as the face behind the company in the ongoing probe.
Kairuki could not confirm when asked if the goods were offloaded into the store only saying he could see the trucks arriving.
“At what particular date could you tell this committee the goods were offloaded?” Embakasi North MP James Gakuya who chairs the committee posed.
“That one needs to be confirmed. I saw those trucks on the first day on April 19 arriving and remained parked outside Kings Commodities for two days without being offloaded,” he responded.
This did not however sit well with the members who alleged that the company was aware of the dealings.
But, he was quick to defend himself from any foul play even as he blamed the Vinepark director for the disappearance of the sugar.
“This was an organised scam we learnt about it on the media. Mwangi knew about the deal from the beginning,” he asserted.
The decision to allow the company space, he noted, was because it is a neighbour and “they told us they did not have space enough in their warehouse to store the consignment”.
The committee is investigating the irregular release of the 20,000 50kg bags of sugar that is said to have found its way into the market despite being declared unfit.
The sugar was imported into the country from Zimbabwe in 2018 but was seized at the Mombasa port for expiry date specification.
According to the probe, after Kebs condemned the sugar, it was taken to Vinepark go-down in Thika where it was stored.
Some 27 officials from various agencies including KRA and KEBS are currently on suspension in connection to its disappearance.
Only 14 bags were found out of the total number.
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Caroline Nyageche who was in charge of the customs at Thika and is currently on suspension denied any involvement saying they were sacrificed.
Nyageche who was also appearing before the committee said she is yet to understand why she was suspended yet she committed no wrong.
“There are three officers who went to confirm the sugar being loaded into the trucks and they are at home…there is one who sealed the trucks and another who deactivated the seals and also at home. I do not know what we did. It has been so painful,” she lamented.