Kamlesh Pattni returns to haunt duty-free shops again

Controversial tycoon and televangelist Kamlesh Pattni has set his sights afresh on the Kenya Airports Authority where he is seeking to regain control of the multi-million-dollar duty-free business.

Mr Pattni, who kept an unprecedented stranglehold on the business at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for more than 10 years, is seeking to control it again just one and half years after he was ejected by the Jubilee administration.

Mr Pattni has bounced back trading under the companies Suzan General Trading and Suzan Duty Free, claiming that he has exclusive rights to run duty-free shops in Kenya’s airports.

His claim is based on illegal contracts secured through bribery in 1989 which he has hung on to, manipulating officialdom and the courts while bleeding taxpayers through lopsided contracts in public airports.

The 1989 contracts he is relying on have long been declared null and void in court processes, but Mr Pattni, perhaps Kenya’s most indefatigable litigant, is never one to give up on such a score.

'EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS'

He now wants the winner of the bid to run duty-free shops at the brand new Terminal 1A — a company known as Dufry — ejected on his legally decayed claim that he has exclusive rights to run duty-free shops.

Dufry has won the contract to run duty-free shops in exchange for payment of an agreed sum of money for a period of time, a deal that is understood to be part of the issues that may have resulted in the suspension of senior officials.

In effect, Mr Pattni is going back on his word that he intended to give up all claims against the airports authority — including a Sh4 billion arbitration award — and multiple court cases in order “to live in peace”.

The authority says in court documents seen by the Sunday Nation that Mr Pattni and his agents have been stonewalling the formal signing of the documents that would effectively put paid to his claims.

Such a formality would include signing the requisite documents which would then be presented to the various courts handling the matter for the final order placing the cases to rest.

However, lawyer Ahmed Adan who represented Mr Pattni in the negotiations for the settlement, says it is the authority that went back on the agreement.

“The negotiations were supervised by the Cabinet Secretary (Mr Michael Kamau). Once settlement was reached it was to be implemented simultaneously,” Mr Adan said.

“But before we could finalise, the managing director (Lucy Mbugua) changed the plan and started selling the space we had given up,” he said.

Mr Adan was referring to the two business lounges his client relinquished on condition they would be occupied by national carrier Kenya Airways but which were later given to other companies operating at the airport.

BATTLES

In response to a suit filed by World Duty Free early this month, the authority says they met their part of the bargain which was to give Mr Pattni’s associated company Suzan five shops: four at JKIA and one at Moi International in Mombasa and a bonded warehouse at JKIA.

“I am aware that pursuant to the said agreement, the authority has honoured and discharged its obligations to the plaintiff and its sister or nominee companies by allocating various office spaces at both Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Moi International Airport,” an affidavit sworn by the authority company secretary Katherine Kisila reveals.

Sources say that the latest developments are symptomatic of the battles of powerful business and political interests for lucrative tenders at the authority.

“The suspension of officials has a lot to do with intense competition for business. There are some interests who always look for something to pin on officials whose call of duty is to make decisions, especially where those decisions do not favour them. Pattni has obviously been unhappy since he was ejected and has been unsuccessfully trying to make a major comeback,” said a source.

It is understood that the matter has attracted the attention of the Office of the President where key officials are keen to ensure that operations at the airport and key Jubilee projects do not falter.

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has been on the rebound after a fire in August 2013 that nearly crippled its operations.

Last week, JKIA was named the 5th best in Africa in the prestigious 2014 Airports Council International Airport Service Quality Awards.

“The stature of JKIA has grown significantly in recent years with the increased passengers and cargo traffic into and out of the facility. We expect even further growth as more capacity is unlocked by on-going works, which will improve service, security and controlled access to meet international standards, thus taking advantage of its strategic location of JKIA to position it as the premier aviation hub of Africa,” the authority managing director Lucy Mbugua said last Tuesday, a day before she was suspended.

One of the major projects that is pending is the construction of a new terminal at JKIA which is to cost an estimated Sh55 billion. The contract was awarded during the Coalition Government term in office and launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

There is also the expected construction of a second runway at JKIA which is estimated to cost about Sh25 billion. Also in the pipeline is the planned rehabilitation of Moi International Airport Mombasa at a cost of about Sh18 billion.