Folks,
Oil Companies are the riches profit making businesses in the world.
Oil, Food and Transportation cost going up means, Tax Revenue Collection go to the rich…..
The Rich does not pay taxes, but the poor man and woman pay heavy taxes to make the Rich richer…
Obviously out of court by Devani demands, is another form of rip-off and put the burden of POOR on the head of the poor……The reason there is high cost of food and livelihood is unbearable…..
The two Principles i.e. PM Raila Odinga and Kibaki are both enjoying the Aroma in their beds of roses…..while the poor man and woman are paying for their lifestyle…..through taxes as a result of high cost of commodity sales
PM Raila and Kibaki are making life extremely difficult for the common poor people…….by making the cost of living too expensive…….an easy way for the poor to die too quickly.
If the two Principles are not able to make life affordable for the common poor, and if the two principles are not able to lead the way for the Legislatures to manage and balance Social Program for Community livelihood, pay workers fair dues and engage Ministerial Department to effectively distribute Revenue Collection fairly and stop corruption and impunity, why cant they vacate public office peacefully…..
How on earth does Yagnesh Devani with cartels get away from the strong arm of the law, when all facts are on the table……letting the poor pay for stolen wealth which was shared by the Politicians…….This is the most serious Crime of the Highest Order…….Against the Voiceless Poor..
It is time all Leaders MUST DECLARE THEIR ACQUIRED WEALTH BEFORE NEXT ELECTION……of 2012…….All Leaders found guilty must be charged…..Accordingly..
We are sick and tired of being sick and tired and of making the Richer get Richer….
It is time to make a Game Changer by engaging Reformists and Not Looters….
It is time Human Rights and Liberty must be valued, respected and honored…..and We must all stand together for Justice and demand rights for all in a Fair Game Strategy… in a Balanced Budget…..
Change is possible when the Coalition Government vacate office for Responsible leaders…
In case Kenya Court fail to deal with Devani case effectively according to the way it should, ICC Court must take up this matter to help the Public recover and not overburden the already living below poverty line…..the Kenyan majority poor.
Thanks,
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
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Now Devani wants an out of court settlement
Written By: Dzuya Walter, Posted: Tue, May 03, 2011
Former Triton CEO Yagnesh Devani
Yagnesh Devani, the businessman at the heart of the multimillion shillings Triton Oil scandal now wants an out of court settlement.
According to his lawyer, Devani has already initiated talks with a local bank to sell off his assets to recover the amount he is alleged to have swindled the government.
The Devani case is perhaps one of the most sensational fraud cases after Goldenberg in the country’s recent history, a swindle that saw millions of shillings lost in shady oil deals.
The court was told that on April 6, a settlement between Devani and the complainant, The Kenya Commercial Bank was entered into but the details of the arrangement are yet to be made public.
The matter will be mentioned on May 27.
The Triton Oil scandal involved the unauthorized release of oil by the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) without informing financiers.
In 2008, Triton Oil Company was allowed by KPC to withdraw oil amounting to 7.6 billion shillings before the company eventually went under after withdrawing the oil and selling it.
Elsewhere, twenty suspected Mungiki adherents were on Tuesday arraigned before a Kerugoya court facing three separate charges related to the outlawed group’s activities.
The suspects who were arrested on Saturday along the banks of River Thiba in Kirinyaga South district as they allegedly took part in unlawful assembly, however, denied the charges and were released on 300,000 shillings bonds each with sureties of similar amounts.
The suspects also faced another count of engaging in organized criminal activities and being in possession of oathing articles.
And the hearing of a hate speech case against Wilfred Machage, Elgon MP Fred Kapondi and Christine Nyaguthie failed to kick off after the prosecution informed the court that it was not prepared for the hearing.
The matter was adjourned to 25 and 26 of this month.
Oil Firm Met All Tender Conditions, Court Told
Paul Ogemba
15 March 2011
Nairobi — The Energy ministry was not interested in the source of money used by an oil company to buy petroleum, a witness said on Tuesday.
The ministry awarded the tender to supply petroleum products to Triton Petroleum Company because it had the ability as presented in its bidding documents, Mr Joseph Wafula told the anti-corruption court.
He was testifying in a case in which businessman Yagnesh Devani, Mr Mahindra Pathak, Mr Julius Kilonzo, Mr Collin Otieno and Triton are accused of disposing of 13 million litres of diesel worth Sh32 million without the consent of Emirates National Oil Corporation on September 5, 2008.
By winning the tender, Triton Petroleum was supposed to supply other oil companies with petroleum products in November 2007 and March 2008.
“We formed a bidding committee consisting of Ministry of Energy officials and representatives from all oil companies. We gave the tender to Triton due to its lowest and satisfactory bid,” said Mr Wafula, an economist in the ministry.
The witness said the ministry did not know the owners of the oil firm and was not bothered about the source of its funding so long as it met its side of the bargain.
Triton, alongside former Kenya Pipeline Corporation employees Peter Mecha and Phanuel Silvano, are further accused of conspiring to defraud other petroleum companies by purporting that the company had diesel ready for sale at the Kipevu storage facility.
A legal officer at the corporation said Triton was to give KPC products which had been financed in return for storage and transportation.
Financial agreement
The officer, Mr Donald Kapten, told senior principal magistrate Lucy Nyambura that the corporation did not enter into any financial agreement with Triton.
“The corporation was not a party to any financial agreement and we were not concerned with the source the petroleum company was going to acquire the funding,” said Mr Kapten.
Another witness, Mr John Kimani, told the court that they were not aware if Triton was under any mortgage when it was awarded the oil supply tender.
“Once we are told who won the tender, we package the consignment without seeking the finer details of the company,” said Mr Kimani.
On Monday, Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi told the court that the oil products were released irregularly leading to the oil scandal in 2008.
The hearing of the case resumes on June 22 upto June 24.
Kenya: Kenya Commercial Bank Takes Pipeline Company to Court over Triton Scam
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has become the first bank to take state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to court, suing the company for the unauthorised release of oil worth USD13.9m in contravention of agreed contractual terms and practice. Other financiers are expected to follow suit. By Albert Muriuki.
Court Case
In papers filed in court on Tuesday, 24 February 2009, KCB explained how on 9 August 2007, it entered into a Structured Oil Import Finance Facility with Triton Petroleum Company for an upper limit of USD25m (KES2bn). The bank and Triton had agreed that any oil imported would only be released on the condition that Triton would enter into a financing agreement with KPC to ensure that KCB’s interest as a financier was secured, and that Triton would forward instructions to KPC, copied to the bank, requesting KPC to undertake to hold the product financed in trust for the bank in a prescribed format adopted by the bank.
KPC, according to the bank, was then to write back to KCB, with a copy to Triton, confirming that they would hold the oil on behalf of the bank until authorised by the bank to release the product via release orders signed by the bank’s authorised signatories and in the bank’s prescribed format. The bank would then pay off the invoice amount as per the arrangement with Triton and thereafter Triton would request KCB to authorise the release of the oil from KPC. KCB was to issue the release orders to KPC which in turn would authorise its respective officers to avail the products to Triton or its clients. “At all material times, KPC had entered into a collateral financing agreement with Triton and in accordance with the said contract, could only release any oil financed by any particular bank after it had been authorised to do so by the bank,” argues KCB in court papers.
KCB gives a detailed chronology of events from 20 November 2007 to 4 December 2008, when the stock summary showed that KPC was holding oil in trust for the bank amounting to USD14m. When Triton was placed in receivership on 19 December 2008, KCB sought reconfirmation of the quantity of oil stocks from KPC to enable the bank issue release orders to identified buyers. However, on 29 December 2008, KPC revealed that it was not holding any oil in respect of the KCB/Triton oil account.
“At no time did the bank issue any release order for the oil stock worth USD13,993,388.70 as set out in KPC’s statement sent on 4 December 2008. KPC in breach of its contractual and fiduciary duty to hold the oil products in trust for the bank has caused the unexplained release of various oil products over which the bank had financed or had a lien,” claims KCB in its court papers. KCB is now asking the court to order KPC make payments of USD14m together with interest at court rates from 4 December 2008 until full payment.
KPC is yet to reply to the allegations of KCB and has not yet filed any response in court. However, lawyers for KCB said they will wait the two weeks asked by KPC in court to allow a forensic report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to be completed.
Former KPC Managing Director George Okungu, who also faces five unrelated counts of abuse of office brought by the Kenya Anti Corruption Authority (KACC), together with Company Secretary, Mary Kiptui, will have to be brought to task since as recognised signatories of KPC, they were preview to the contract between KCB and KPC, and will have to explain the loss of the oil.
Fiscal and Political Implications
Although Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi has ordered investigations into how oil went missing from the KPC’s Kipevu oil storage facility last Christmas, a court ruling in favour of KCB will mean that the parastatal will be open to similar suits from the other financiers Total Kenya and Shell Kenya have already moved to court: Total Kenya has asked the courts to compel KPC to release petroleum products held in trust on account of Triton worth KES360m. Shell Kenya has asked for the release of KES228m worth of petroleum products, and has requested restraining orders against KPC to prevent them from releasing another 4,725.173 cubic meters of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) worth KES288m, pending the hearing and determination of the suit. Since KPC have already admitted that these stocks are no longer available, the company would have to purchase equivalent amounts, or offer to reimburse the companies.
Other financiers that are very likely to follow KCB’s move and sue KPC directly include British Glencore, which risks losing KES2.3bn, Fortis of France, KES906m, and Emirates National Oil Company, KES2.5bn.
Should KPC lose this and other suits, the parastatal’s financial position will come under intense pressure as all the financiers’ claims add up to a total of KES7bn at a conservative estimate. – and ultimately any losses to KPC will have to be covered by the tax payers.
On a political level, the suit is likely to give the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Bonny Khalwale more material to emphasise the direct impact of the oil scam on government finances. Khalwale had stated that he would prepare a censure motion against Murungi, similar to the failed motion against Agriculture Minister Willliam Ruto, although it is doubtful whether this will succeed: Murungi’s political career has not only survived his alleged involvement in the AngloLeasing procurement scam, but also stands to benefit from some political horsetrading: It has been argued that the refusal of PNU MPs to vote out Ruto is expected to be matched by ODM support to safeguard Kiraitu Murungi.
Extradition of Triton CEO?
Critics argue that the current scam was made possible by changes brought to KPC in July 2004 with the introduction of the collateral finance agreement, a device to help small and upcoming oil marketers to obtain credit financing from banks and international suppliers to finance oil imports. This allowed smaller operators like Triton – a company that was barely a decade old in Kenya and only had eleven outlets countrywide to compete with multinationals that had controlled the Kenyan petroleum market for many decades. Small companies were also allowed to import oil directly without having to go through the major players. Triton consistently won rights to import oil which they sold on to Kenyan marketers.
Although the alleged perpetrator of the scam, Triton Chief Executive Officer/Executive Chairman Yagnesh Devani, was being sought by the police, the state withdrew a criminal charge against him under unclear circumstances. Devani is said to be in India. As members of the Commonwealth, India and Kenya have extradition agreements amongst them, so the question arises why the government has not asked the Indian government to extradite Devani. Under the Extradition (Commonwealth Countries) Act, Kenya can request India to extradite Devani to Kenya to face the criminal charges against him.