CONTROVERSIAL tycoon Kamlesh Pattni admitted yesterday he was closely associated with H.Z. Group of companies owned by former powerful cabinet minister and Keiyo South MP Nicholas Biwott The businessman conceded having rescued H.Z Construction Company from collapse in 1992 and restructured its Israeli-owned parent company, H.Zad Holdings. At the time, the collapsed Trade Bank was sagging under the weight of non performing overdrafts by Biwott’s companies, Pattni told the judicial tribunal probing Kenya’s worst financial fiasco. Pattni nominated one of his most trusted financial executives, identified as N.S. Srikhan, as a signatory to the accounts held by H.Z. Construction Company at the financially crippled Trade Bank.
Two other signatories, James Norhury and K. Bhatavia, represented Biwott’s interests, the Goldenberg inquiry heard. Srikanth, who fled the country during Pattni’s tribulations in 1994, was similarly a signatory to Biwott’s Ziba Management and Services Ltd and Pattni’s flagship company – Goldenberg International – Durley House and International Trading Consortium. Interestingly, Pattni’s chauffeur, Augustine Okore Mwasame and the businessma mans associate Chandrakant Madhubai Patel, were appointed as directors of H. Zad Holdings on February 26, 1993. Biwott, Akbar Abdulla Kassam, Paul Lobo and Johnstone Mwanjala Mwandawiro resigned their directorships from the firm on March 2, 5993, the tribunal heard. Pattni said Biwott was facing financial aura management difficulties with H.Z. Construction Company and he offered to inject some money to keep it afloat since it had the capacity to undertake lucrative government road construction tenders.
“At the time, I was highly regarded for turning around ailing companies. I had the Midas touch and the business acumen to make things change,” Pattni told Goldenberg inquiry chairman Samuel Bosire, vice-chairman Philip Nzamha Kitonga and commissioner Peter Le Pelley., Pattni, whowas being cross-examined by lawyer Cecil Miller, tactfully dodged questions regarding the amount of money he injected into H.Z. Construction Company. He claimed to have lent the firm “about Shs 10 million”. The tycoon denied having received dividends from the company but said interest was paid for “the loan”.
He similarly acquired heavy-duty mining equipment. “There was no share transfer. I did not acquire a substantial stake in H.Z. Construction Company,” Pattni, the commission’s 76th witness, testified during the inquiry’s 229th session at Nairobi’s Kenyatta International Conference Centre. Former Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Micah Cheserem, had told the inquiry on May 13 that Biwott should be made to repay Shs 600million-plus interest-belonging to the Deposit Protection Fund (DPF). His efforts to recover the money during his tenure was frustrated by the judiciary, Cheserem had told the inquiry. Toe money had been lent to Tragic Bank by the DPF- on the intervention of ex-CBK governor Eric Kotut -but ended up in equal share in the hands of HZ Group of Companies and the collapsed PanAfrican Bank.
