Benedict Mutua Mbuvi was charged alongside Oil Tycoon Yagnesh Devani and Triton Energy Limited 14 years ago with stealing 12,623,239 metric tonnes of Oil valued at 17M dollars, the property of Fortis Bank.
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A former employee of Kenya Pipeline Company will have to defend himself over accusations of stealing Sh2.1 billion worth of oil.
Benedict Mutua Mbuvi was charged alongside Oil Tycoon Yagnesh Devani and Triton Energy Limited 14 years ago with stealing 12,623,239 metric tonnes of Oil valued at 17M dollars, the property of Fortis Bank.
The offence was committed in August 2088 at Kipevu Oil Storage Facility within Mombasa District.
Devani has been on the run and the case proceeded in his absence.
Extradition proceedings were initiated against him but they were still incomplete at the time the state was closing its case.
Efforts to have him extradited have been unsuccessful.
Chief Magistrate Roseline Oganyo found Mbuvi, a former technician at the state corporation has a case to answer after the prosecution called 17 witnesses in the case.
“Having considered the evidence of the 17 witnesses, I am satisfied that a prima facie case has been established against all the three remaining accused persons. I will therefore place Mbevi on his defence on all the charges facing him together with those that are absent in counts 1 and 2 respectively.”
Mbevi will have to defend himself over accusations of stealing, conspiracy to commit a felony and abuse of office.
In one of the charges, Mbevi is accused of abusing his office by releasing the oil valued at 17 million dollars without the authority of Fortis (Nederlands) N.V Bank.
This according to the state was in contravention of the collateral financing agreement signed between Kenya pipeline company and Triton energy, an act prejudicial to the rights of the Bank.
The offence is said to have been committed in August 2008 at Kenya Pipeline Company.
The Magistrate gave Mbevi 14 days to appeal.
The case initially had 4 suspects. That is Yagnesh, Mbevi, Triton and one Julius Kyalo Kilonzo.
The charge sheet was however amended in 2022 after the prosecution withdrew the charges against one Julius Kyalo Kilonzo on July 7 2021.
He was turned into a state witness.