Five deny $100m Kenya oil fraud

There were major fuel shortages across the region last year

Five managers of the government-owned Kenya Pipeline Company and privately-owned Triton Petroleum Company have been charged with fraud in Nairobi.

The case before an anti-corruption court magistrate in the Kenyan capital involves a sum of up to $100m (£61m).

They pleaded not guilty to conspiring to defraud a number of petroleum firms - a scandal blamed for major fuel shortages across the region last year.

The court also issued a new arrest warrant against the owner of Triton.

The accused are said to have conspired to release 126m litres of fuel meant for Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda from the government fuel storage firm without authority.

The BBC's Anne Mawathe in Nairobi says they allegedly claimed Triton had volumes of diesel, held at the Kenya Pipeline Company facility, ready for sale to petroleum firms.

In the process of the alleged fraud, which prosecutors say took place on 5 September 2008, several leading banks are said to have lost millions of dollars.