Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has clarified issues around the deported Turkish ‘businessman’Harun Aydin.
Speaking from Mombasa where he is meeting the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security, Matiang’i revealed that the Turk was issued with a work permit but maintains that he was still dangerous to the country.
He says Harun is a holder of a Turkish passport issued in 2018 and valid until 2028. That he applied for a work permit class G in Nov 2020 meaning he is allowed to work just within the country.
“His work permit was issued on June 5, 2021, and we know this because we have digitized our systems so we can trace those who have work permits”.
The CS added that despite the fact that Harun was only allowed to do business in Kenya, the government noticed that the Turk was moving in and out of the country. The CS says the man who is allegedly a close associate of Deputy President William Ruto, was in links with money laundering groups.
“We noticed he was moving around Zanzibar, South Sudan, Entebbe. One of our sister security agents flagged out this gentleman that he was moving around and some of his associates were people involved in money laundering,” Matiang’i said.
“We looked at his passport and realized that he has left the country twice without his passport having been stamped. This means he sneaked out. He had stamps of departure but no stamp of arrival into the country. All these are characteristics of an undesirable immigrant,” he added.
The CS also took the opportunity to confirm that indeed the government deported Harun.
“We deported him but with an understanding of the Turkish government. When we arrested him, we communicated with the Turkish security authorities in Turkey.
“We were in constant communication and we eventually in mutual agreement decided that we should hand him over to their citizens.
“We were ready to charge him in our courts but after advice from our legal team and after the mutual agreement we handed him over,” he explained.
