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OCP has temporarily suspended shipments to Kenya, denying allegations that a vessel carrying fertilizer from Morocco fled to the high seas to avoid the cargo being tested before it is offloaded.
Speaking to Yabiladi on Friday, Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), one of the world’s largest phosphate exporters, indicated that rerouting the vessel «MV MYKONOS BAY» will «allow OCP Kenya to dedicate all its energies and resources to provide full support to the mandated authorities, until the matter is fully resolved».
OCP’s answer comes as Kenyan online newspaper the Daily Nation reported on Thursday that a ship bringing 10,000 tones of Morocco fertilizer has been on the run since Wednesday.
According to the same source, Kenyan Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti said «he would pursue the vessel using Interpol to make sure it does not offload the cargo anywhere».
«If it had genuine cargo, why did it make a U-turn even after they had paid Sh18 million as taxes?», asked Kinoti.
Replying to accusations
Clarifying things, OCP indicated that «the vessel was rerouted while on international waters and the cargo had been inspected and a certificate of conformity (COC) issued by Intertek on behalf of Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS)».
These accusations come as OCP Kenya is at the heart of a huge scandal. In fact, the Kenyan authorities have recently accused OCP fertilizers of being «contaminated or substandard», says Daily Nation.
Replying to accusations, OCP said in a statement, issued last week, that it rejects these claims in their entirety as they reflect neither the commercial practices nor the rigorous quality-assurance processes to which OCP Kenya adheres», adding that «indeed, OCP Kenya complied fully with Kenyan procedures and regulations in place in connection with the cargo targeted by this action».
«The full compliance of this cargo with such procedures and regulations has been indisputably confirmed by independent expert analyses performed by several internationally renowned inspection agencies (SGS, Bureau Veritas and Cropnuts)», the same source notes, stressing that «OCP Group strictly observes the highest national and international legal standards and best practices in its operations worldwide».
