Anne Njeri Njoroge, the businesswoman at the center of the controversial Ksh17 billion diesel deal, now says that she will not withdraw her case against two state corporations and an oil marketing company.
The businesswoman reappeared in a Mombasa high court Tuesday, four days after going missing, where she narrated her ordeal in the hands of her alleged abductors.
According to her lawyers Cliff Ombeta and David Chumo who had filed a habeas corpus application at the Mombasa High Court Monday night but was overtaken by events, noted that her client was threatened with death if she did not withdraw the case against Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Pipeline Company, and Galana Energies Limited.
“She was supposed to not only withdraw the case but also do so before leaving the country. Now we are saying here clearly, that we are not withdrawing the case,” Ombeta told journalists outside the Mombasa Law Courts.
“We shall not be threatened. The case must go on. Impunity must die.”
He revealed that the officers who had questioned her tried to cut a deal with her, seeking a commission from the proceeds of the consignment.
The lawyer linked the saga to the oil cartel in the country, arguing that the fuel Njeri brought would have been cheaper than the one in the Government-to-Government oil deal.
“Is it because there are some competitors or people who are not happy about it?” he posed.
On Monday, KPA said the documents that Njeri had produced to claim ownership of the supposed 100,000 metric tonnes of diesel were fake.
However, Ombeta said: “Of course, it is a fake document. It is the one they manufactured. Ann did not give them the original documents. Where did they get that document? They have doctored the document.”
He said Galana Energies, which claims ownership of the fuel, has failed to show the letter of credit.
“You are being told that the ship that was in the high seas on October 11 was ready to come into the country. Why did it come a month later on November 4? Remember this is the time that Anne was trying to prepare her papers so that she could import the fuel into the country,” he said.
On his part David Chumo stated that they had obtained orders from the high court on 8th November, barring the involved government agencies from seizing the ship which was at deep sea and discharging the oil at Kenya Ports Authority facility at Kipevu oil terminal.
Francis Ouma, a human rights crusader condemned the alleged abduction of the businesswoman terming it a heinous act.
