Emirates’ cargo manager for East Africa Bob Bover. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU
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Magistrate Eddah Agade on Monday ordered the expulsion of Emirates’ cargo manager for East Africa Bob Bover, ruling that the work permit he presented to immigration officials at the time of his arrest in January only allowed him to work for rival airline KLM.
A senior regional manager of Emirates Airlines was on Monday expelled from the country after he was found guilty of working in Kenya without a valid permit.
Magistrate Eddah Agade on Monday ordered the expulsion of Emirates’ cargo manager for East Africa Bob Bover, ruling that the work permit he presented to immigration officials at the time of his arrest in January only allowed him to work for rival airline KLM.
The Dutch national last month pleaded guilty to the charges, but Ms Agade granted him reprieve after being told that Emirates had applied for his work permit before his arrest.
She Monday ordered for his repatriation after the court heard that the immigration department rejected the application.
“The application for a work permit has been denied. I do not know its chances on appeal, however that will not hold this case any further. I now order the immigration department to repatriate Mr Bover back to his country of origin as part of the sentence in this case,” Ms Agade ruled.
The magistrate handed over Mr Bover’s passport to the immigration department after the ruling.
Mr Bover was arrested on January 26 at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport where immigration officials discovered that his permit only authorised him to work for KLM, and not Emirates where he had been for over a year.
Investigations into his stay in Kenya revealed that KLM wrote to the immigration department in February last year seeking to cancel his work permit, as he had ceased working for the Dutch airline.
KLM also asked the immigration department to cancel documents authorising Mr Bover’s son to live and study in Kenya.
Ms Agade ruled last month that evidence in court only showed the cancellation of his son’s work permit. The permit however was only valid for use as a KLM employee, leaving him without status.
The State had argued that both permits had been cancelled in December last year, but the letter from the immigration department provided in court only cancelled his son’s.
The Dutch national had argued that he is a first time offender after living and working in Kenya for 20 years, and that he is an enourmous tax payer.
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