- Lawyer Cliff Ombeta on Saturday said Anne Njeri Njoroge was summoned to the DCI headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday.
- He claimed that some two individuals took advantage of Njeri’s lack of an oil importing license to lay claim to ownership of the 100,000 metric tonnes of oil.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
A lawyer has raised alarm over the alleged disappearance of his client, a billionaire importer and exporter of products in the country.
Lawyer Cliff Ombeta on Saturday alleged Anne Njeri Njoroge was summoned to the DCI headquarters in Nairobi on Thursday.
He however said he has not heard from her since.
“She is now missing for two days. She is unreachable and untraceable,” Ombeta told journalists in Mombasa.
According to Ombeta, he contacted officers investigating the case who denied knowledge of her disappearance or the summoning.
The lawyer connected Njeri’s disappearance to Sh17 billion diesel oil that she imported into the country from Turkey, through Saudi Arabia, and through her company Ann’s Import and Export Enterprises Ltd.
Ombeta said she did this in partnership with an Israeli national and that she has a good credit record with her financiers.
“This was to be sold to any party that was willing to buy from her,” Ombeta said in Mombasa.
He claimed that some two individuals took advantage of Njeri’s lack of an oil importing license to lay claim to ownership of the 100,000 metric tonnes of oil.
“The problem has been that as she is trying to do so, some people tried to steal the oil from her,” Ombeta claimed.
According to the lawyer, it all started on November 4, when the oil was in the high seas as Njeri sourced for a buyer for the oil before it could get into Kenya.
He said Njeri was informed by the authorities that the ship carrying the oil had docked at the Mombasa port.
Njeri reported the matter at the Port police station in Mombasa and wanted to know who authorized the ship to be docked at the port without her consent.
Transactions of the ship were stopped temporarily.
On November 8, she filed a case at the Mombasa High Court where she sued some companies and sought orders that the ship be not allowed to offload the oil.
Ombeta said that her client received a High Court order in Mombasa barring the ship from leaving the dock and the diesel being offloaded until the ownership dispute is heard and determined.
In her prayers, Njeri wants some companies to deposit Sh17 billion in an interest-earning account pending the hearing and determination of the case.
However, one of the companies through its CEO, in their response argued that no person can import petroleum into the country without a license.
The company CEO claimed that a State agency told them on November 9 that Njeri has no license to import petroleum.
The Company's boss argued that by legal notice 3 of 2023, the government introduced a framework for the importation of refined petroleum products for sale in Kenya and transit markets through a Government-to-Government arrangement.
The matter will be mentioned on Tuesday in Mombasa.
Ombeta said when Ann recorded her statement at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi, she had been accompanied by her other lawyer David Chumo.
He accused unnamed Kenyan individuals, including high-ranking officers in government, of trying to steal the oil from his client after tricking her that they were in a position to help get the oil into Kenya.
Ombeta said his client knows the requirements for her to import oil especially if it is on a Government-to-government basis as she has been in the business for over 30 years.
“We have seen people disappear in Kenya before. We fear this could be headed that way and we do not want that to happen to my client,” he said.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO