Police Arrest KEBS Managing Director Charles Ongwae Over Contraband Sugar Scam

Police have arrested Kenya Bureau of Standards Managing Director Charles Ongwae and 10 other officials in connection with the contraband sugar scandal.

The 11 were reportedly arrested on Friday and driven to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters along Kiambu Rd in Nairobi for interrogation.

The arrests come barely a day after Ongwae disputed claims by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i that the illegal sugar tested positive for poisonous compound, mercury.

“The sugar was tested on June 11, 2018 against the Kenyan standards for brown and white sugar borrowed from the codex committee (international standard for testing.) The samples were at that moment not tested for mercury and as such the first batch given to the DCI did not contain any test results for mercury since mercury testing is not a requirement of the international standard,” said Ongwae when he appeared before a parliamentary committee on Thursday.

He added: “Subsequent tests for samples from other locations have also been completed. The tests were done against the same standards but further tests were done for heavy metal contaminants as a result of public outcry and no mercury was detected. No mercury has been detected in the samples that we have tested.”

He however disclosed that some of the sugar was found not to have met the standards used at the Bureau. He also indicated that some samples were found to contain traces of copper and lead.

“Certain sugar samples were found non-compliant to the standards at the bureau. The sugar has since been recalled from the market,” said Ongwae.