I was tortured, starved by police, teary warehouse owner in condemned sugar scandal tells MPs
Lawyer Jared Bosire (left), Director of Vinepack Industries Peter Mwangi (centre) and Vinepack Assets and Cargo Director Crispus Waithaka at Harambee Sacco Plaza after appearing before National Assembly, Trade, industry and Cooperative Committee.
A director of the company at the centre of the disappearance of condemned sugar broke down in tears and turned the heat on the taxman, saying he knows who stole the sweetener.
Mr Peter Mwangi, the director of Vinepack Ltd, told MPs that he collapsed on May 3, 2023, when Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials unsealed the Thika warehouse where 20,064 bags of 50 kilogrammes of condemned sugar had been stored, only to find the warehouses empty.
President William Ruto's administration suspended 27 government employees for releasing to the public the condemned sugar, which had been declared unfit for human consumption in 2018 and earmarked for conversion into industrial ethanol.
The condemned brown sugar was meant to be used as raw material for distillation of industrial ethanol, but disappeared, amid fears that it may have ended up on supermarket shelves.
Former Kenya Bureau of Standards ( Kebs) Managing Director Bernard Njinu Njiraini and seven other senior government officials were charged with stealing 20,000 bags of condemned sugar worth more than Sh20 million.
KRA Deputy Commissioner Joseph Kiago Kaguru was also charged with theft, conspiracy to commit an offence, abuse of office and interfering with goods under customs control.
Mr Mwangi told the National Assembly's trade and industry committee that six KRA officials sealed the godown before carrying out an audit on whether eight conditions set for its transport and destruction had been met.
He accused officers from the KRA's Intelligence and Strategic Operations (I&SO) unit, led by Mr Derick Kogo and a Mr Mutuku, of delaying a report that would have given Vinepack a letter to open the go-down.
Two padlocks
Mr Mwangi said when he visited the go down on May 1, the KRA seals and the two padlocks were intact.
But on May 3, he said, a KRA officer named Faith Kihara called him to report to the godown where the taxman was to open the security seals and open the padlocks to inspect the contaminated consignment.
“I was at Blue Post hotel taking tea when somebody called asking ‘Are you James Mwangi?’ I said yes, and she said, ‘I am Faith Kihara, come to the godown so that we can open the seals and the padlocks to check the sugar’,” Mr Mwangi told an inquiry into the disappearance of the condemned sugar.
“When I arrived at the godown, I found three Subarus full of KRA and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers.”
He said the KRA officials asked if he had the keys, but he replied that one of the keys was held by Asset and Cargo Ltd and Kiara and the other by Galgamesh Ltd.
Mr Mwangi said the two companies handled the transport and logistics of 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 vat, which was empty. I collapsed," said Mr Mwangi.
Handcuffed
"When I regained consciousness, I was handcuffed and I was taken to hospital because they had broken my nerve."
Mr Mwangi told the inquiry team led by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya that he was arrested, taken to Mombasa, beaten, held for 56 hours without food and charged after 72 hours. He was released on Sh100,000 bail.
"I peed on myself. I was beaten badly. The sugar was under the seal of the KRA and the KRA should tell us where the sugar is," said Mr Mwangi.
Narrating his ordeal to the committee, Mr Mwangi said the sugar, which was transported in 40 containers from Mombasa to Thika, was kept under KRA seal at Kings Commodities Ltd godowns in Thika, hired by Vinepack.
He said the sugar was under KRA custody because the Customs Act requires that a godown under KRA seal be treated as a bonded area.
Mr Mwangi said Kings Commodities warehouses had six security guards and 24-hour CCTV cameras.
"The six guards have since disappeared and the CCTV cameras have been removed from the warehouse.
"I have done my own investigations and found out that the sugar consignment was removed on the night of the 29th and 30th of May. I want to testify in private," he said, before breaking down.
