Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Igonga has sought to withdraw a Kes 7.6 billion corruption case against businessman Yagnesh Devani due to a lack of witnesses.
According to Igonga, key witnesses to the oil scandal have died, while the ODPP cannot trace others in a case that has dragged in the corridors of justice since 2008.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) detectives arrested the businessman in July of this year in a fresh attempt to have him charged.
“The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has, this morning, arrested the principal suspect in the Kes 7.6 billion Triton Oil scandal, Mr. Yagnesh Devani. Devani, who was apprehended from his offices in Nairobi, is expected to take plea before the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court,” the Commission said in a statement.
The 2008 oil scandal unraveled after the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) ordered an internal audit of oil stocks in its systems following complaints by oil marketers and financiers over a fuel shortage that hit the country.
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The audit conducted in July 2009 by the African Centre for Open Governance showed that stocks amounting to 126.4 million liters were irregularly and illegally released to Triton Petroleum Limited between November 2007 and November 2008.
It also revealed that Triton was not entitled to the stocks, and financiers did not authorize the release as required under contractual arrangements.
After the oil scandal, Devani fled Kenya in 2008 and returned to the country.
