Questions abound on gangland style kidnapping of sugar baron Jaswant Singh Rai
Mr Jaswant Singh Rai addresses a committee of the National Assembly on the crisis that was facing the sugar industry in June 2018. The businessman was abducted on Friday evening.
What you need to know:
- The businessman went missing when armed men in a grey double-cab pickup blocked his Toyota Land Cruiser 300 at the junction of Wood Avenue in Kilimani, opposite Kenwood Apartments around 4pm.
Questions over the mystery surrounding the daylight abduction of Kabras Sugar chairman Jaswant Singh Rai last Friday evening persisted Sunday even as his lawyer Kioko Kilukumi revealed that his captors had released him.
The businessman went missing when armed men in a grey double-cab pickup blocked his Toyota Land Cruiser 300 at the junction of Wood Avenue in Kilimani, opposite Kenwood Apartments around 4pm.
Footage recorded by CCTV cameras shows about four men getting out of the pick-up and forcibly pulling the occupants of the billionaire's car into their vehicle before speeding off towards Galana Road.
Mr Rai's vehicle is left idling on the road. Later, officers at Kilimani Police Station receive reports of an abandoned vehicle and tow it to the station, unoccupied and with only a minor scratch on the front right side where the pick-up had made contact. A report on the vehicle was made under OB number 40/25/8/2023.
Kilimani Sub-county Police Commander Moss Ndiwa told Nation that, the following day, a woman who identified herself as Mr Rai's daughter, accompanied by a lawyer, went to the station to file a missing person's report. The report was registered under OB number 21/26/08/2023.
"She also confirmed that the vehicle towed to the station was his," the officer added.
The family had shared the CCTV footage of the incident, which led them to conclude that Mr Rai had been kidnapped, but Mr Ndiwa had insisted that the police could not confirm that this was, indeed, a case of kidnapping.
During an earlier interview, the Director of Criminal Investigations, Mr Amin Mohamed, had claimed that Mr Rai was not being held by his officers.
"We are not holding him. We do not have a detention facility, but the matter is under investigation," Mr Amin told Nation.
Earlier yesterday, one of the lawyers representing the family, Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi, had said the family hadn't had any contact with Mr Rai and that he couldn't be reached on phone. One of his sons is expected in the country from the US at any time to deal with the matter.
The daring abduction has raised questions about whether the country is going back to the days when security agencies carried out such abductions with complete disregard for the law.
"This marks the unfortunate return of extrajudicial methods that the new government promised to end. The IG owes Kenyans an explanation. We demand the immediate and safe return of Mr Rai," said Mr Eric Theuri, president of the Law Society of Kenya.
Some of Mr Rai's lawyers have speculated that the incident has something to do with the ongoing battle over the receivership of Mumias Sugar Company, which saw him arrested by detectives from the Economic Crimes Unit, who are investigating a Treasury report alleging an attempt by some individuals and companies to defraud the miller.
In his application, Mr Rai said he was escorted from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the DCI on an alleged red alert against him and was subsequently questioned about his involvement in Mumias.
The lawyers argued that the arrest was an attempt to get him to drop his support for creditors against Mumias' lease to the Sarrai Group. Nation understands that the billionaire has since been granted anticipatory bail to prevent the police from arresting him when the case comes up for hearing on October 6.
Jaswant is a member of the Rai family, one of the country's richest, and who own major stakes in the edible oil and sugar industries, controlling more than half of the country's sugar market. In 2021, the group bid for the state-owned Mumias Sugar Company through its Ugandan subsidiary, the Sarrai Group.
The family also has interests in property, agriculture and cement.
