NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 15 – Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Igonga has sought to withdraw a Sh7.6 billion graft case against businessman Yagnesh Devani, citing lack of witnesses.
According to Igonga, key witnesses to the oil scandal have died while others cannot be traced by the ODPP in a case that has dragged in the corridors of justice since 2008.
Sleuths attached to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had in July this year arrested the businessman in a fresh attempt to have him charged.
“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has, this morning, arrested the principal suspect in the Sh7.6 billion Triton Oil scandal, Mr. Yagnesh Devani. Devani, who was apprehended from his offices in Nairobi, is expected to take plea before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court,” the Commission said in a statement.
The 2008 oil scandal unraveled after the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) ordered an internal audit of oil stocks in its systems following complaints by oil marketers and financiers over a fuel shortage that hit the country.
The audit conducted in July 2009 by the African Centre for Open Governance showed that stocks amounting to 126.4 million liters were irregularly and illegally released to Triton Petroleum Limited between November 2007 and November 2008.
It also revealed that Triton was not entitled to the stocks, nor did financiers authorize the release as required under contractual arrangements.
Devani fled Kenya in 2008 after the oil scandal and came back into the country.
Source: capitalfm
