A director of a company at the centre of the disappearance of condemned sugar from a Thika go-down in May turned the heat on the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), accusing the taxman of knowing who stole the sweetener.
Peter Mwangi, director of Vinepack Limited, told MPs that KRA officials unsealed the godown where 20,064 bags of sugar had been stored only to find the stores empty.
Twenty-seven government employees were suspended over the release of condemned sugar to the public that had been declared unfit for human consumption in 2018 and earmarked for conversion into industrial ethanol.
Mr Mwangi told the National Assembly Trade and Industry Committee that six KRA officials sealed the godown ahead of determining whether eight conditions set for transportation and destruction were met.
He accused officers from the KRA's Intelligence & Strategic Operations, including one Derick Kogo and a Mutuku, of delaying a report that was to get Vinepack a letter for the opening of the godown.
Mr Mwangi said when he visited the godown on May 1, the KRA seals and the two padlocks were intact.
But on May 3, he said, a KRA officer Mr Mwangi identified as Faith Kihara asked him to present himself at the godown where the taxman was to unseal security seals and open the godown to check the consignment.
"When I arrived at the godown, I found three Subarus full of KRA and Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers," he said.
Mr Mwangi said the KRA officials asked if he had the keys but responded that one of the keys was held by Asset and Cargo Limited and the other by Galgamesh Limited.
He said the two companies handled the shipment and logistics of moving the condemned sugar from Mombasa to Thika.
He said the KRA seals were intact when the KRA official asked for the keys. "They broke the padlocks and unsealed the godown, which was empty. I collapsed," said Mr Mwangi.
"When I regained consciousness, I had handcuffs. I have been to hospital because they broke my nerve."
Mr Mwangi told the inquiry team led by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya that he was arrested, taken to Mombasa, beaten, kept for 56 hours without food and charged after 72 hours where he was released on a Sh100,000 bond.
Mr Mwangi said the sugar which was transported from Mombasa to Thika in 40 containers was kept under the seal of the KRA at Thika’s Kings Commodities limited go downs that Vinepack hired.
He said sugar was under the custody of the KRA because the Customs Act requires that a go down under the KRA seal is treated as a customs bonded area.
Mr Mwangi said the condemned sugar was stored at Kings Commodities warehouses which had six security guards and round-the-clock CCTV cameras.
“The six guards have since gone missing and the CCTV cameras removed from the warehouse.
“I have done my own investigations and found out that the sugar consignment was removed on the night of May 29 and 30, I have gone through hell. I want to testify alone in camera,” he said before breaking down.
