Businesswoman Ann Njeri is now asking the Members of Parliament to help her get compensation for her KES 17 billion oil import that she believes was illegally taken from her.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Energy Committee on Wednesday, Ann Njeri said that she had all the documents to prove that the oil was hers and not Galana Energies, which is also claiming ownership of the oil consignment. However, the MPs questioned the legitimacy of the documents she presented to them.
“I believe that this Committee has the power to recommend a full investigation of this matter with a view to helping me in my fight for compensation and the recovery of all payments due to me,” she said.
She went on to insist that she procured the fuel for sale to any country in the East African region.
“As an upstream trader (not an importer of petroleum products in Kenya), I do not need a license to deliver fuel to a customer who has a license to operate in their jurisdiction; I amend the import documentation for the buyer and deliver the product to the final port,” she told the committee.
Njeri said she purchased the fuel using a credit line held at HSBC Bank in Dubai. “Together with business partners, we have an account in the bank in which we settle payments for products we have been allocated. The cargo on MT Haigu was paid from this bank just like all the other petroleum transactions we have executed over the years,” she said.
Njeri said she is a Kenyan trader in oil and gas products, adding that she started the business in 2009 and worked to build network and business links with refineries and oil allocation holders in the Middle East and Asia.
“I set up my base in Dubai, UAE, to run the business of moving petroleum products to African countries under the company Ann’s Import and Export Enterprises Limited. I also run a mineral trading company called ECADI General Trading Limited,” she said.
MPs are seeking to establish whether the consignment belongs to Njeri’s Import and Export Enterprises Limited or the company registered as Galana Energies.
However, Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and the Kenya Ports Authority have maintained that Njeri is not the true owner of the consignment, alleging she used forged documents to assert ownership.
