The Ksh16.5 billion edible oil importation saga has taken a new twist after top officials of a State Corporation placed at the center of the questionable deal were arrested for questioning on Tuesday, November 2023.
The investigation further revealed that the companies were to procure oil for the Kenya National Trading Cooperation (KNTC), a state corporation.
Appearing before the Senate Trade Committee on Tuesday November 28, Trade Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano informed the Committee that detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) had arrested officials of the Kenya National Trading Cooperation (KNTC).
“I would like to inform this committee that Ms Pamela Mutua, the Managing director at KNTC was not able to accompany me since she was picked by Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) officers yesterday and she is still recording some statements,” Miano stated.
Pamela Mutua was among senior managers picked up by DCI earlier on Tuesday to shed more light on the edible oil scandal.
Additionally, the detectives also grilled managers from a local bank that guaranteed the edible oil deal.
CS Miano was appearing before the committee to answer questions about the amount of duty-free cooking oil, maize, rice, and sugar imported.
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Edible oil deal
What’s more, the importation deal remained questionable due to the fact that private firms were granted the procurement of tax-free oil instead of having a government agency doing that.
In addition, the private firms would in turn sell the imported oil to KNTC, with the state corporation later selling the oil through other state firms.
Moses Kuria, the then Trade Cabinet Secretary came out to dispel the claims.
Additionally, while appearing before the Senate Kuria denied the single-sourcing procurement allegations.
In his defense, Kuria claimed that the decision to have KNTC import edible oils was made to address the increasing costs of edible oils.
On the other hand, the Senate Committee probing the importation deal complained that the state corporation failed to open its warehouse for verification.
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Kiambu Senator Karungo Thang’wa went on to insist that the Committee must visit the stores since CS Miano could not confirm whether she had visited the premises after taking over from Kuria.
The Senate Committee further adjourned the meeting as CS Miano could not offer so much help on the matter.
