Editor's Review

According to Omtatah, the Sh 17 billion allegedly stolen from public coffers was to be returned upon the sale of the oil shipment but ended up in individuals' pockets.

It now emerges that the KSh 17 billion used in the importation of the contentious diesel consignment from Turkey was not Ann Njeri's.

Njeri, who has been at the centre of the oil saga claimed that the consignment, which has already been offloaded at the Port of Mombasa, was hers in the midst of the contention with the Galana Oli Company which the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum blessed in the deal.

Busia senator Okiya Omtatah in his private probe established that the taxpayer's monies were handed to Njeri to order the consignment out of whose sale the proceeds would be refunded to the coffers.

At first, with the blessing of former Treasury CS Ukur Yatani, KSh 16.6 billion was unduly withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund in the 2022/2023 fiscal year; the monies would be used on subsidies to private financial enterprises, according to Omtatah.

Busia senator Okiya Omtatah now claims the Sh 17 billion in the diesel oil saga was sourced from public coffers.

In January this year, another Sh 9.1 billion was withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund, and another KSh 17.2 billion later in June all in the guise of funding subsidies.

While flagging the withdrawals as unconstitutional, the litigious lawmaker suspected the monies were not spent on the said subsidies but handed to the Njeri.

According to him, the sales proceeds of the oil shipment would not be returned to the coffers but into pockets of people of interest in the saga.

Omtatah implicated Roads and Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen and his Energy and Petroleum counterpart Davis Chirchir.

He suggested that the duo of CSs were working in cahoots with Njeri to benefit from the multi-billion shilling deal.

"I challenge Energy and Petroleum CS Chirichir, and Transport CS Murkomen to stop fooling the nation and come clean on their relationship with Ms Njeri, whom I reasonably believe is their front in the heist, whom they have fallen out with," he said.

While ruling out the supposed businesswoman's ability to raise the Sh 17 billion, Omtatah claimed she was covering up for Murkomen and Chirchir.

The two CSs in a presser disowned Njeri, saying the oil shipment belonged to the Galana Oil Company which the senator claims is being used to launder the heist.