Rubis dismisses claims CEO was deported, says he ‘travelled to Paris’

Oil marketer Rubis has denied the deportation of its Kenyan Managing Director Jean-Christian Bergeron.

According to a statement by the company issued on Thursday night, Mr Bergeron has travelled to the marketer’s headquarters in Paris to provide an update on the company’s operations amidst the prevailing fuel shortage.

“We wish to clarify that the Group Managing Director, in consultation with the Rubies Energie Head Office, travelled to Paris to provide a full brief on the situation in Kenya,” read part of the firm’s statement.

Sources had yesterday told Citizen Digital of Bergeron’s deportation on accusations of economic sabotage due to the ongoing fuel crisis following a meeting between Acting Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Earlier on Thursday, CS Juma confirmed the Managing Director had left the country but did not confirm or deny the deportation news.

“There is no update, the CEO of Rubis departed the country last night,” she told journalists.

Further, Rubis has pushed back on accusations of product holding including swelling up its export capacity.

According to Rubis, the ongoing supply constraints are partly attributable to increased demand as it reports a 13.3 per cent growth in daily retail sales, month over month in April.

At the same time, the oil marketer says it has maintained a bias for local sales with the split of domestic to export sales at 88 and 12 per cent in April.