Back in the public eye, Rai sets tongues wagging
Businessman Jaswant Rai speaks with King Charles III on Tuesday evening, October 31, during a state function where the British monarch met with Kenyan businessmen.
On the first day of King Charles' visit to Kenya, one of several stops he made was at the Nairobi Garage – a co-working space at Delta Corner Towers in the heart of Westlands. In a video of the event circulating on social media, a man who hasn't been seen in public for months can be seen greeting the royal.
"That is Mr Rai... the owner of the building," a man says as billionaire Jaswant Rai, chairman of the Rai Group of Companies, shakes hands with the king.
Mr Rai was among the businessmen who met King Charles at a state function hosted by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi on Tuesday evening.
The last time most Kenyans saw him was on CCTV footage of him being abducted in broad daylight by armed men and bundled into a waiting vehicle at the junction of Wood Avenue and Lenana Road on August 25. After a frantic search by police and relatives, he was released by his captors on August 28 and has not been seen in public since.
The video has set tongues wagging, with some seeing it as a sure sign that all is well between the tycoon and the powers that be.
Mr Rai is heavily invested in the edible oil and sugar industries and controls more than half of the country's sugar market.
Mr Rai's return to the limelight comes months after President William Ruto linked him to a group of business cartels that were making it difficult for the government to implement reforms in the sugar industry.
During a tour of Kakamega County on August 30, the President said he had told the billionaire and his brother, who are embroiled in a war over Mumias Sugar, to get out of the way and withdraw court cases against the company, which he said belongs to the people.
He added that the government had plans to revive the ailing miller.
"Let them withdraw the court cases and move out. I have told them there are only three options left: they either move out, go to jail or embark on the journey to heaven," Dr Ruto said in Mumias.
West Kenya Sugar Chairman Jaswant Singh Rai.
The infamous 'mambo ni matatu' phrase then sparked a firestorm that has refused to die down.
Soon after, Mr Rai filed a notice withdrawing all the applications he had filed in the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
He then disappeared from public view... until the King of England came calling.
