Kenya police fail to trace Banda's son
The son of Zambia’s former President Rupiah Banda who has been declared a fugitive in his home country cannot be traced in Kenya, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said on Saturday.
And should it turn out that Henry Banda is in the country as claimed by Zambian authorities, he gained entry using an illegal route, the police boss added.
Local police have been looking for him following a request by Zambia through the global police organisation, Interpol, for alleged corruption.
“If he is in Kenya, he did not pass through designated entry points. We did enquiries and established that he visited Kenya three times last year and left,” Mr Iteere said.
He said official records showed that Mr Banda used two passports on different occasions, with the last update showing he left Kenya on November 23 last year.
Left South Africa
“Since then, there are no records to show that he has visited again,” said Mr Iteere.
On Thursday, the Nation visited the home of one of the businessmen who is said to have links with Mr Banda in Spring Valley, Nairobi, but learnt that he had left the country on January 26 and it was not known when he would be back. (READ: Banda's son 'has links with Kenya elite')
At the same time, the police boss discounted reports that his Zambian counterpart Martin Malama had indicated that Mr Banda was hiding in Kenya.
“The report I got from Zambia does not indicate that he is in Kenya. It says that he (Mr Banda) had left South Africa and could be headed to Kenya,” said Mr Iteere.
Kenyan police have been on the lookout for Mr Banda though they were not keen to arrest him immediately so as not to break international laws and procedures.
That means Kenya would have to wait until Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, issues a red notice, even after receiving a warrant of arrest, before arresting Mr Banda.
Though a wanted man at home, Mr Banda enjoys close connections with prominent Kenyans and is linked to many businesses.
He was widely accused in the Zambian parliament and the media in 2009 of brokering a deal in which a Kenyan oil trading company, Dalbit Petroleum Ltd, clinched a multi-million-dollar contract to supply finished petroleum products to Zambia.
There were sensational claims in the media on how the Kenyan businessmen who had attended the tender opening ceremony in Lusaka had been given aide de camps provided by the government and were escorted in a convoy of government-owned Mercedez Benz cars to State House after the ceremony.
