NAIROBI, May 26 – Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission Director Justice Aaron Ringera, Businessman Kamlesh Pattni and two Grand Regency Hotel receivers are due to appear before a Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday to clear the air over the hotel’s handover.
Capital News has learnt that the four will be quizzed by the Finance Committee over the controversial sale of the Hotel.
According to a member of the Committee Jakoyo Midiwo, they are to explain why the Government is in a rush to sell the hotel.
The committee will also be seeking to know the price at which the hotel will be sold, and if in fact it has already been sold.
Jakoyo also said on Monday that it was unclear why the hotel was being done away with.
“According to Kimunya, Grand Regency has not been sold. But the word on the streets is that the hotel has been sold to some Indians. We also don’t know how Libya comes into the picture,” he intimated.
While making the statement, Jakoyo also accused the Central Bank of Kenya of interfering with the sale of the hotel, despite a court order prohibiting it.
“If Central Bank was thrown out of the Hotel by the court in 1999, how is it that it is the one selling? How does it come in?” he posed.
Last Wednesday the committee summoned Finance Minister Amos Kimunya, Central Bank Governor Prof Njuguna Ndung’u and Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua.
It established that the Treasury earned Sh460 million from the profits made by the Hotel since it began operations in the early 1990s.
The committee also learnt that as at 1993, the building and the land occupied by the hotel was valued at Sh2.5 billion.
Kimunya is scheduled to appear before the Finance Committee again next Tuesday.
Since its inception, Grand Regency has been at the centre of a legal tussle between its former owner, Pattni, and the government.
However, earlier this year, the businessman handed the hotel over to the government.
Imenti Central Member of Parliament Gitobu Imanyara questioned the move, asking the government to explain the controversy surrounding the transfer of the hotel.
