Ann Njeri, the businesswoman behind the disputed Sh17 billion fuel, yesterday treated a parliamentary committee to a comedy of contradictions and outright lies as she sought to explain her ownership of the controversial consignment.

House Energy committee members under the chairmanship of Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka, watched in dismay as Njeri contradicted herself and failed to prove she was the owner of the consignment despite insisting the cargo belonged to her.

An often incoherent Njeri could not produce bank statements or the letter of credit, which she had claimed, was issued by HSBC Bank in Dubai that paid for the fuel. When asked to produce the documents, she told the MPs that revealing such information would be a breach of her privacy.

“I have evidence (of payment) but it is private and confidential, it should not be shared with the public, only the chairman can see it,” she said. “It is my humble submission that I procured this fuel for sale into any country in East Africa.

"As an upstream trader (not an importer of petroleum products in Kenya), I do not need a license to deliver fuel CIF to a customer who has a license to operate in their jurisdiction. I amend the import documentation to the buyer and deliver the product to the final port. I do not run business in the downstream or fuel import space in Kenya as I am not licensed”.

However, she told the MPs that she had applied to the regulator for a Petroleum Importation License, but her application was rejected.

“That did not affect my trading upstream,” said Njeri, who made her way to the meeting accompanied by her step sister, her friends and a lawyer.

She gave contradicting dates as to when her company, Ann’s Import and Export Enterprises Limited, was formed and whether it had engaged in the fuel business under that name. Initially, she had indicated that the company was registered in 2014 but later said she started it in 1992.

Following the contradictions, MPs at one point had to intervene to remind her that she was under oath after it emerged that the compliance certificate she had presented to them, allegedly from the Kenya Revenue Authority, was fake.

Said Musyoka: “Njeri, I want to put it to you that we have established that the compliance certificate you have given us is fake. In fact, the name is also misspelt. I want to assure you that we will be calling KRA to come here and further authenticate this document.”

The legislators also expressed their frustration with her after she presented documents with small fonts that were not readable

Said Roysambu MP Kamande Mwafrika: “All your documents are faint; they are also in very small fonts. Had you planned to frustrate us?”