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RAILA AND WAMBUI FACE QUIZ ON ARTURS
Story By Bernard Namunane
The Daily Nation, Kenya
Aug. 15, 2006
MP Raila Odinga, political activist Mary Wambui and her daughter
Winnie Wangui plus businessman Kamlesh Pattni are on a list of high
profile witnesses who are to be interviewed afresh over the security
scandal involving the Armenian Artur brothers.
Also listed for questioning are the entire top brass of the country's
security system, including intelligence chief Michael Gichangi, Chief
of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga and Police Commissioner Hussein Ali.
They are to be quizzed by a Parliamentary committee over the activities
of the so-called brothers - condemned as major international criminals
- and in particular the way they breached security at Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport which led to them being deported.
And the committee is hoping to ensure all the witnesses give their
evidence in public - unlike previous witnesses who were heard in
private after Parliament's Business Committee blocked the committee's
pleas for public hearings.
A co-chairman of the joint committee, MP Ramadhan Kajembe, accused
Justice minister Martha Karua of blocking its bid for public hearings,
"on one or two spurious grounds".
They would wait for Parliament to resume before asking the House to
allow hearings in public, he said,
And the other co-chairman, MP Paul Muite, commented: "We want the
public to hear what is being said so that when anybody skips a
question, the jury will be in the public court."
The list of new witnesses includes big names not called by the Kiruki
Commission of Inquiry which wound up its public hearings on Friday
last week.
The Parliamentary committee released a list of 34 fresh names,
as it revealed its members would travel to Abu Dhabi in the United
Arab Emirates to interview the brothers, Mr Artur Margaryan and Mr
Artur Sargsyan.
The brothers were deported to Dubai, the commercial centre of the UAE,
but the Kenyan embassy, where the hearings are likely to be held,
is at Abu Dhabi the emirates' capital.
The committee said it had become crucial for the key people in the
debacle to be questioned following what they said was the failure of
the commission chaired by former police commissioner Shedrach Kiruki
to call crucial witnesses.
The committee said the activities of the two Armenians touched on the
centre of the country's security and that the truth must be unravelled.
"This has become even more critical given that the the Presidential
Commission of Inquiry elected not to invoke the power to compel
attendance of witnesses conferred on it by the Commissions of Inquiries
Act, Cap 102 of the laws of Kenya," they said in a statement read by
Mr Kajembe.
"There is a compelling need to have an inquiry that for once gets to
the bottom of the matters being investigated," he added.
Public hearings
The commission brought down the curtain on its public hearings
without summoning key people who had been linked to the entry, stay
and deportation of the two Armenians.
The only key person to go before the commission was Internal Security
minister John Michuki. Even then, he only spent 15 minutes on the
witness stand.
Yesterday, the joint committee, comprising two committees - one on
Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs chaired by Mr Muite and
the other on Security, Administration and Local Authorities headed
by Mr Kajembe - vowed to summon all key witnesses in the affair.
Said Mr Muite, MP for Kabete: "This committee, in fact, intends to
use its powers as provided for in the National Assembly (Powers and
Privileges) Act to compel witnesses to come and testify."
So far, they said, the committee had questioned 32 witnesses in private
after their attempts to be exempted from Parliament's Standing Orders
and hold the hearings in public were blocked by the House Business
Committee. "We have more additional witnesses whom we intend to call,"
he said.
The names on the list have been separated according to the roles they
are alleged to have played in the Arturs affair.
Quizzed about general security issues regarding the brothers will be
Mr Odinga, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, minister Michuki, Police Commissioner
Ali, National Security Intelligence Services boss Michael Gichangi
and Special Adviser to the President Stanley Murage.
Others in that category include Civil Service head Francis Muthaura,
Chief of General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga, State House Comptroller
Hyslop Ipu, suspended CID director Joseph Kamau, Nairobi police
boss King'ori Mwangi, and the city's criminal investigations officer
Isaiah Osugo.
The Armenians themselves, Mr Margaryan and Mr Sargsyan, are placed
in this group.
Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka were the first to blow the whistle on the
presence of the Artur brothers in the country when they claimed the
two were mercenaries hired to carry out political assassinations.
But Mr Margaryan countered the claim with allegations that they had
lent Sh108 million to Mr Odinga and had hosted Mr Musyoka in Dubai.
Those to be questioned in relation to the arrest and subsequent
deportation of the two Armenians are Immigration minister Gideon
Konchellah, suspended Kenya Airports Authority deputy managing director
Naomi Cidi, suspended Immigration officer James Gitonga, the director
of police operations at Vigilance House, Mr David Kimaiyo, and two
employees of Akarim agencies, a Mr Khanyari and Ms Tsalwa.
Narc-Kenya activist and businesswoman Mary Wambui leads the group
of witnesses to be interviewed over the fracas at Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport (JKIA) and the way the brothers were given
airport security passes.
Others in this group are Kenya Airports Authority boss George Muhoho,
a Mr Keter who is protocol officer at the JKIA VIP lounge, and police
officers at the airport during the fracas.
The committee has also lined up Ms Wambui's daughter Winnie Wangui
for questioning. Ms Wangui and Mr Aloise Omita and Julius Maina are
listed as business partners of the two Armenians as directors of a
company called Kensington Holdings Limited.
In addition to the company's secretary, other business associates to
face the joint committee are named as Mr Kamlesh Pattni, Mr Baktash
Akasha and the Joho brothers.
Story By Bernard Namunane
The Daily Nation, Kenya
Aug. 15, 2006
MP Raila Odinga, political activist Mary Wambui and her daughter
Winnie Wangui plus businessman Kamlesh Pattni are on a list of high
profile witnesses who are to be interviewed afresh over the security
scandal involving the Armenian Artur brothers.
Also listed for questioning are the entire top brass of the country's
security system, including intelligence chief Michael Gichangi, Chief
of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga and Police Commissioner Hussein Ali.
They are to be quizzed by a Parliamentary committee over the activities
of the so-called brothers - condemned as major international criminals
- and in particular the way they breached security at Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport which led to them being deported.
And the committee is hoping to ensure all the witnesses give their
evidence in public - unlike previous witnesses who were heard in
private after Parliament's Business Committee blocked the committee's
pleas for public hearings.
A co-chairman of the joint committee, MP Ramadhan Kajembe, accused
Justice minister Martha Karua of blocking its bid for public hearings,
"on one or two spurious grounds".
They would wait for Parliament to resume before asking the House to
allow hearings in public, he said,
And the other co-chairman, MP Paul Muite, commented: "We want the
public to hear what is being said so that when anybody skips a
question, the jury will be in the public court."
The list of new witnesses includes big names not called by the Kiruki
Commission of Inquiry which wound up its public hearings on Friday
last week.
The Parliamentary committee released a list of 34 fresh names,
as it revealed its members would travel to Abu Dhabi in the United
Arab Emirates to interview the brothers, Mr Artur Margaryan and Mr
Artur Sargsyan.
The brothers were deported to Dubai, the commercial centre of the UAE,
but the Kenyan embassy, where the hearings are likely to be held,
is at Abu Dhabi the emirates' capital.
The committee said it had become crucial for the key people in the
debacle to be questioned following what they said was the failure of
the commission chaired by former police commissioner Shedrach Kiruki
to call crucial witnesses.
The committee said the activities of the two Armenians touched on the
centre of the country's security and that the truth must be unravelled.
"This has become even more critical given that the the Presidential
Commission of Inquiry elected not to invoke the power to compel
attendance of witnesses conferred on it by the Commissions of Inquiries
Act, Cap 102 of the laws of Kenya," they said in a statement read by
Mr Kajembe.
"There is a compelling need to have an inquiry that for once gets to
the bottom of the matters being investigated," he added.
Public hearings
The commission brought down the curtain on its public hearings
without summoning key people who had been linked to the entry, stay
and deportation of the two Armenians.
The only key person to go before the commission was Internal Security
minister John Michuki. Even then, he only spent 15 minutes on the
witness stand.
Yesterday, the joint committee, comprising two committees - one on
Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs chaired by Mr Muite and
the other on Security, Administration and Local Authorities headed
by Mr Kajembe - vowed to summon all key witnesses in the affair.
Said Mr Muite, MP for Kabete: "This committee, in fact, intends to
use its powers as provided for in the National Assembly (Powers and
Privileges) Act to compel witnesses to come and testify."
So far, they said, the committee had questioned 32 witnesses in private
after their attempts to be exempted from Parliament's Standing Orders
and hold the hearings in public were blocked by the House Business
Committee. "We have more additional witnesses whom we intend to call,"
he said.
The names on the list have been separated according to the roles they
are alleged to have played in the Arturs affair.
Quizzed about general security issues regarding the brothers will be
Mr Odinga, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, minister Michuki, Police Commissioner
Ali, National Security Intelligence Services boss Michael Gichangi
and Special Adviser to the President Stanley Murage.
Others in that category include Civil Service head Francis Muthaura,
Chief of General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga, State House Comptroller
Hyslop Ipu, suspended CID director Joseph Kamau, Nairobi police
boss King'ori Mwangi, and the city's criminal investigations officer
Isaiah Osugo.
The Armenians themselves, Mr Margaryan and Mr Sargsyan, are placed
in this group.
Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka were the first to blow the whistle on the
presence of the Artur brothers in the country when they claimed the
two were mercenaries hired to carry out political assassinations.
But Mr Margaryan countered the claim with allegations that they had
lent Sh108 million to Mr Odinga and had hosted Mr Musyoka in Dubai.
Those to be questioned in relation to the arrest and subsequent
deportation of the two Armenians are Immigration minister Gideon
Konchellah, suspended Kenya Airports Authority deputy managing director
Naomi Cidi, suspended Immigration officer James Gitonga, the director
of police operations at Vigilance House, Mr David Kimaiyo, and two
employees of Akarim agencies, a Mr Khanyari and Ms Tsalwa.
Narc-Kenya activist and businesswoman Mary Wambui leads the group
of witnesses to be interviewed over the fracas at Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport (JKIA) and the way the brothers were given
airport security passes.
Others in this group are Kenya Airports Authority boss George Muhoho,
a Mr Keter who is protocol officer at the JKIA VIP lounge, and police
officers at the airport during the fracas.
The committee has also lined up Ms Wambui's daughter Winnie Wangui
for questioning. Ms Wangui and Mr Aloise Omita and Julius Maina are
listed as business partners of the two Armenians as directors of a
company called Kensington Holdings Limited.
In addition to the company's secretary, other business associates to
face the joint committee are named as Mr Kamlesh Pattni, Mr Baktash
Akasha and the Joho brothers.