I didn’t set fire to the airport, declares Pattni

 Smoke billows from the arrivals unit of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport August 7, 2013. Goldenberg architect Kamlesh Pattni has distanced himself from the Wednesday airport fire which destroyed property worth millions of shillings and left thousands of travellers stranded. 

Goldenberg architect Kamlesh Pattni has distanced himself from the Wednesday air port  fire which destroyed property worth millions of shillings and left thousands of travellers stranded.

Mr Pattni, who lays claim to duty free shops which were demolished at the airport only a week before the dawn blaze, has become a focus of investigations into the fire which forced the closure of the region’s travel hub for hours.

But speaking to the Sunday Nation on Saturday, the controversial businessman insisted he was innocent.

“I have nothing to do with the evil act. I was absolutely not involved in destruction of the property,” he said.

In his first interview since the incident, Mr Pattni described reports linking him to the fire as “malicious and unfortunate”.

“The government has said that it is investigating the matter. I don’t want to be dragged into any speculation. Let us all be patient and wait for the truth. The truth shall be known,” he said.

The man behind the biggest con in the nation’s history—the Goldenberg scandal—spoke as it emerged that a team of elite detectives picked to investigate the cause of the fire were looking into smuggling cartels that operate within two VIP lounges belonging to Mr Pattni.

The inquiries seek to establish whether there was any link between these and the fire which gutted the international arrivals section of the airport and dealt a blow to Nairobi’s standing as one of three major air travel hubs in Africa alongside Johannesburg and Addis Ababa.

Suspicions of arson

The suspicions of arson are driven by assessments of investigators who found that the fire spread so fast that it can only have been fuelled by inflammable material.

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) on August 1 forcibly took over duty free shops belonging to Diplomatic Duty Free Limited and Kenya Duty Free, two firms associated with Mr Pattni, following the expiry of their lease.

But in a major lapse, the security passes of many of the members of staff who worked at the shops were not withdrawn.

Saturday, operations at the airport were gradually returning to normal amid reports that President Kenyatta had taken personal charge of the crisis and ordered speedy investigations by all agencies concerned.

Top government officials, including Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and Transport Secretary Michael Kamau, together with US Ambassador Robert Godec, visited the airport to assess the damage and recovery progress.

It emerged that the government is making arrangements to procure a prefabricated structure to serve as a temporary arrivals terminal.

On the investigations front, detectives told the Sunday Nation that unknown people have freely been doing business in the two VIP lounges associated with Mr Pattni before being sneaked out by police and immigration officers who have unlimited security access to facilities at JKIA.

The two VIP lounges are situated near the airside and Mr Pattni has another office adjacent to the immigration office giving his staff unfettered access to key installations.

The investigators believe that the two VIP lounges are used for tax evasion, smuggling of humans and contraband.