Kamlesh Pattni ejected from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport shops

By FELIX OLICK

KENYA: Business magnate Kamlesh Pattni has been evicted from duty-free shops at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport despite a court order stopping the move.

The eviction squad landed on the shops registered as Diplomatic Duty Free Limited (DDFL) located at Terminal 1 at around Wednesday midnight and removed everything from the stalls.

When The Standard visited the scene yesterday morning, entrance and exit slots at the airport were completely inaccessible. They had been blocked by a huge heap of expensive goods dumped there.

Luxurious liquor, cologne, electronic items, clothing and leather seats worth millions of shillings were among the goods that had been removed from the shops.

Tens of youths, some clearly in a drunken stupor, ferried goods from the shops and dumped them in open spaces. Hundreds of DDFL employees, who apparently would lose jobs, looked on, pain registered on their faces. Also curious to have a glance of what was going on were passengers.

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DDFL went to court and obtained an order barring eviction until the matter was determined.

High Court Judge Jonathan Havelock also ordered the parties to appear before the court on August 9.

He certified the matter urgent.

The DDFL marketing manager Prashant Tolemere bitterly complained at inhuman manner in which they had been ejected from the shops allegedly by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).

Take over

He said over 300 youths landed on their shops and are suspected to have stolen several items.

“The youths evicting us are thieves. One has just been found with a Samsung Galaxy phone in his pocket. You can see some are drunk after taking alcohol from our shops,” he complained.

Tolemere maintained that KAA allegedly ejected them from the premises despite stay orders that had been issued by High Court on Tuesday.

“This is purely personal vendetta against Pattni. Even if they had to evict us from the premises, is this the right way?” he posed.

It’s still not clear why the eviction took place since Pattni had on Tuesday received a conservatory injunction barring the airports authority from taking over the premises pending the hearing and determination of a suit filed by DDFL.