The Nation, Kenya
July 7 2006
State House cited over Arturs’ staged arrival
Story by LUCAS BARASA and MUGUMO MUNENE
Publication Date: 7/7/2006
The truth behind the amazing airport Press conference that saw the
Artur brothers presented as VIPs and genuine foreign investors has
been revealed at last.
Mr Naphtali Sawe from the Kenya Airports Authority displays the
security passes irregularly issued to the Armenian brothers. He was
giving evidence during the public hearing of the Kiruki Commission of
Inquiry at KICC in Nairobi yesterday. Photo by Joan Pereruan
The whole thing was a piece of fiction, carefully stage-managed by a
group of people that included someone claiming to be from State
House. In fact the two Armenians had been in Kenya all along, but a
cunning accomplice told a security official that he worked at State
House and so persuaded him to fake the arrival of the brothers’
arrival in the country.
The official went along with the ruse to pretend the two had had just
flown into Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from Dubai, and he
opened the doors at one of the arrival gates ~V Gate 6 ~V to allow the
brothers to slip through, then re-emerge as Press cameras recorded
their sudden appearance.
The brothers, accompanied by Nairobi lawyer Fred Ngatia and a Mr
Aloise Omita, then made their way to the Government’s own VIP lounge
where they held their Press conference, telling of their wish to
invest in Kenya.
Permission for the conference, on March 13, this year, had been given
the previous evening by the airport’s deputy managing director, Ms
Naomi Cidi, who had telephoned security staff and told them to expect
some important passengers and to arrange security passes for the two
brothers, their entourage and the journalists who were hand-picked to
attend the conference.
Meanwhile, Mr Bosire was left behind to lock the doors of Gate 6, the
Kiruki Commission was told yesterday.
The impostor, who had claimed to be from State House, was identified
to the commission investigating the Armenians’ activities as a Mr
Julius Maina.
Mr Bosire told the inquiry a man had walked up to him and his
immediate boss, Mr Moses Wanyonyi, and introduced himself as Mr
Julius Maina of State House.
Mr Wanyonyi had in turn been called earlier by his immediate boss and
told that Ms Cidi had wanted a Press conference arranged for certain
guests.
At the time, both Mr Maina and Mr Omita had permanent security access
passes to all airports that would allow them into the aircraft
parking lots and lounges for a year.
It is not clear what business they had at the airport that would have
gained them such high level clearance.
On the day the passes were issued, Mr Maina had declared on the
application forms that he worked as a financial consultant for a
company called Inter-Alliance International Ltd.
The inquiry’s assisting counsel Dorcas Oduor, while leading Mr Bosire
in his evidence-in-chief, asked: Do you really know where he comes
from or who he works for?
Bosire: Not at the moment.
Oduor: Can you identify him today?
Bosire: I had never seen him before.
Oduor: We cannot find him either. The company Inter-Alliance Ltd,
according to the Registrar of Companies, is not registered and that
number belongs to another company. How do we find him?
Bosire: I can’t trace him. I saw him that morning. I had never seen
him before and I have never seen him again.
Oduor: What about Mr Omita?
Bosire: I have never seen him again.
Mr Bosire then told the commission the waiting party, which included
the brothers, was anxious about the arrival of a Kenya Airways flight
expected that morning from Dubai and which had been delayed by about
two hours.
Once he learnt the flight was delayed, Mr Maina spoke into his
cellphone and a short while later turned to Mr Bosire and told him
that the matter would be handled by Mr Omita.
Mr Omita then became frantic, searching for a place where he could
print a document. Finally he turned to Mr Bosire and told him they
would do it in Ms Cidi’s office. The two then rushed off to KAA
headquarters, some distance from the airport, where Mr Omita had his
document printed while Mr Bosire waited outside. On their return to a
first class lounge at international arrivals, Mr Omita was told the
awaited guest had already arrived.
At this point, he and Mr Wanyonyi, the duty security manager,
instructed Mr Bosire to open one of the arrival gates so the
passengers’ arrival could be stage-managed for the Press.
The details emerged on the seventh day of the public inquiry by the
commission appointed by President Kibaki to investigate the brothers.
Asked why he had agreed to stage-manage an arrival, Mr Bosire
responded: "I thought it was usual, official and a sensitive issue
that was not to be revealed to everyone."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress