Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has defended Turkish businessman Harun Aydin’s arrest and deportation.
“Our security agents flagged him for traveling around the region, they noticed that he was keeping company of people with reports of money laundering,” he said.
Aydin, who was part of the team in DP William Ruto’s failed trip to Uganda last Monday, was arrested on Saturday by officers from the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and detained for questioning.null
“One of his associates was arrested in another country for money laundering. So we tracked his movement,” Matiang’i said.
Speaking in Mombasa before National security committee MPs on Friday, Matiang’i said Aydin’s behaviour was characteristic of people involved in money laundering.
“When this came to our attention, we sought to get more information. We noticed that according to his passport, he had left the country twice without a stamp of him arriving in the country,” he said.
“He sneaked into the country twice without stamps. All this evidence is of an undesirable person.”
Matiang’i said this made the security agents to arrest him before getting in touch with security in his country .
“Unstamped entry passport means you either came in through porous borders or in private aircraft with VIP’s. When VIP’s arrive at the airport, passport is with someone else but sometimes at smaller airports when passports are left behind, one can fake their entry,” he said.
“We agreed to surrender him to his country where they would deal with him. We deported him on the understanding we had with the Turkish government.”
The Interior minister further noted that the phone numbers that Aydin gave were not his.
“The phone numbers he gave are ringing with some women not his number. We were ready to charge him in court but we also had a mutual agreement with another government,” he said.
Noting that they have deported around 40 people in the last two years, Matiang’i said Aydin was given a work permit.null
But noted that they were tracking his movements.
“We gave him permit on June 25th. For everyone we give work permit, we do follow ups. When they make a movement we know and we can tell.,” he said.
“After he was given a permit we noticed his movement and he was moving around Sudan, Goma, Zanzibar, Entebbe.”
Reports have linked Aydin to terrorism activities, but the DP defended him as a polished investor whom he helped secure Sh15 billion from Equity Bank to set up a business in Uganda.
Last week, Ruto said that Aydin is a victim of top-down arrogance.
Ruto said it was a tragedy of political pettiness.
“Turkish investor, Aydin Harun, is a victim of top-down arrogance bred by patronage and cartels that criminalise enterprise,” he said.
“Importers’ goods declared contraband, Africa spirits closed, Keroche harassed, now investor with valid papers labelled terrorist. Tragedy of political pettiness.”
Aydin was detained by immigration officials on landing in Nairobi from Uganda where he had been since August 2.
Officials said they wanted to question him in regard to his immigration status, work permit and the business he is involved in the region.
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