Crispus Waithaka, the ringleader behind the heist of confiscated brown sugar, was detained on Saturday night at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) after flying in from Dubai.


Waithaka, a traveller with the passport number BK 237924, boarded Fly Emirates aircraft EK721 at about 9:00 p.m. to enter the nation.


Officers from the Immigration Department detained the individual in question after issuing a departure ban order against him.


Why was Mombasa businessman Crispus Waithaka, the director of Asset and Cargo Limited, arrested at JKIA over missing toxic sugar? Here is the puzzle


On May 19, the Mombasa High Court's temporary order for a Sh100,000 anticipatory bail in Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. E067/2023 revealed his possession of it.


Rearrested once again, he was led to Kamukunji Police Station by investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), where he was taken into jail.


On Monday, he is set to face charges in court for diverting prohibited sugar that was intended to be turned into industrial ethanol.


According to Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) documents, Waithaka, the director of Asset and Cargo Limited, was among those who saw the 40 containers holding the banned sugar's customs seals broken on April 20.


The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has already received the completed probes into the illicit distribution of confiscated sugar.


Top administrators of the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and several Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) offices should be prosecuted for a variety of offences, including abuse of authority, according to the DCI investigators' recommendations.


The DCI has recommended to the DPP that certain officials be prosecuted and others be handled as eyewitnesses. The investigators suggested administrative or internal action be taken against others as well.


Those affiliated with the KEBS, KRA, National Police Service, and Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) are among those who were sent home to make room for the probes.


Felix Koskei, the head of the public service, announced the dismissal of the aforementioned public employees on Wednesday of last week. He said that President William Ruto had been informed of the illegal and unlawful discharge of prohibited sugar that was intended to be converted into industrial ethanol.


Since then, it has been shown that the shipment was improperly redirected and discharged. Additionally, the terms of the distiller's open and competitive recruitment were broken, and the necessary taxes were not paid, according to the statement.


"It is obvious that certain officials in the appropriate government departments neglected their duties at the cost of endangering the public, "he said.


Lt. Col. (Rtd.) Bernard Njiraini, the Managing Director of KEBS; Dr. Geoffrey Muriira, the Director of Quality Assurance and Inspection; Hilda Keror, the Manager of Inspection at Mombasa Port Office; Liston Lagat, the Assistant Manager at ICDN Nairobi; Stephen Owuor, the Principal Officer; and Peter Olima Joseph, the Inspector at Mombasa, are among the suspended officials.


The KRA had an impact on people like Joseph Kaguru, Mwanja Masinde, Stephen Muiruri, Moses Okoth, Doris Mutembei, Chacha Hondo, Carol Nyagechi, and Derick Kago.


George Mithamo, Joel Kirui, Benard Ngumbi, and Raphael Mwaka are more police officers that were suspended and were members of the multi-agency team that handled the sugar.


Others include Willy Koskei (EACC), Edwin Ruto (KPA), Daniel Ngugi (KEPHIS), Joseph Maita Mweni (Port Health), Isacko Bonai (NEMA), Stephen Cheruiyot (Anti-Counterfeit Agency), and Isacko Bonai.


Patrick Magut and Oscar Kai, two AFA officials, are impacted.


Merako Investments Limited imported 20,000 bags of sugar from Harare, Zimbabwe, each weighing 50 kg; however, KeBS rejected the shipment due to the lack of an expiration date specification.


However, it was ultimately accepted to transform the shipment for use as industrial ethanol. KEBS and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) would jointly be in charge of overseeing this within a multi-agency framework.


After KEBS rejected the sugar, it was reportedly transported to a go-down in Makongeni, Thika, where it was held while waiting for disposal instructions.


In accordance with KEBS regulations, products that do not meet Kenyan standards or authorised specifications cannot be imported and must be sent back, destroyed, or reshipped at the cost of the importer.


However, in a letter to the KRA Commissioner General in December 2022, KEBS MD Njiraini said that the company was given an inquiry from Assets and Cargo Ltd. for the distillation of the prohibited brown sugar in question.


Moses Kuria, the cabinet secretary for industrialization and trade, and Felix Koskei, the head of the public service, received copies of the letter.


However, he claimed to have studied the procedure for the condemned consignment's disposal and authorised, in theory, the subject's annihilation by transformation to ethanol through distillation from authorised producers as an ecologically benign method.


Five days after receiving the letter from the KeBS MD, the KRA head asked the Attorney General for his or her opinion.


The cargo should be transformed into ethanol at authorised companies in accordance with the law, according to AG Justine Muturi.


Police found 14 of the 20,000 initial bags of sugar that had been deemed unsuitable for human consumption.


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