Kenya to Arrest Oil Company Director After Shipment Disappears

By Eric Ombok

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Kenya issued an arrest warrant for Yagnesh Devani, founder of Triton Petroleum Co., which owes banks and oil companies 7.6 billion shillings ($95.3 million), acting Finance Minister John Michuki said.

The government is also seeking properties owned by Devani to settle the debt, Michuki told reporters yesterday in the capital, Nairobi. Devani left the country last month after Triton failed to pay for a shipment of crude oil, he said.

“We are trying to find out what he owns because it can help to pay that debt,” Michuki said, adding that Kenyan police have been instructed to determine Devani’s whereabouts.

Triton won a tender in October to supply domestic oil companies with petroleum in December. The crude shipment, partly financed by Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd. and stored by the state- run Kenya Pipeline Co., disappeared before payment was received. On Jan. 9, the presidency fired Kenya Pipeline Managing Director George Okungu.

Kenya Commercial is the east African nation’s biggest bank by number of branches. Central Bank of Kenya Governor Njuguna Ndung’u said on Jan. 12 Kenyan banks financed about 2.5 billion shillings of the payment for the oil shipment.

Calls to Triton’s office in Nairobi were answered by a voice prompt saying the number has been switched off. Nairobi- based Business Daily newspaper reported today that Devani is in Kenya and will appear in court this week to plead to charges of theft. The report cited James Ochieng’ Oduol, whom the newspaper said was Devani’s lawyer. When contacted today by Bloomberg News, Ochieng’ Oduol said he doesn’t represent Triton.

Kenya Commercial’s Corporate Communications Manager Judith Sidi-Odhiambo said today in a phone interview from Nairobi that Kepha Bosire, the bank’s corporate affairs director, would only be available for comment tomorrow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.