President Ruto has appointed Basil Criticos to be the Chairperson of the Kenya Trade Network Agency Board for a period of three years.
KenTrade is a state corporation under the National Treasury established in January 2011 to establish, implement and manage the National Electronic Single Window System (KenyaTradeNet System) and to facilitate trade.
Kenya TradeNet System is an online platform that serves as a single entry point for parties involved in international trade and transport logistics to lodge documents electronically.
Criticos is a former assistant minister for Roads and Public Works who worked under late President Daniel Moi’s regime.
He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Taveta from 1992 to 1997 and again from 2002 to 2013. Additionally, Criticos was the Assistant Minister for Agriculture from 1992 to 1997.
Basil Criticos age
According to a report on Who Owns Kenya, Criticos was born on October 18, 1954, making him 68 years old as of May 2023.
Basil Criticos family
Criticos is married to one Barbara Kirwan Criticos, and together they have four children.
His son, Alexander Thomas Criticos, died of undisclosed ailment at his Nairobi home in August 2019.
Thomas was 32 years old.
Basil Criticos woes
Criticos owned a vast land that turned into an endless cycle of conflict with squatters.
Issues started after his 99-year leasehold lapsed even as the government failed to approve his renewal requests.
Criticos first blamed the invasion of his farm on racism and incitement. He further linked his predicaments to witchcraft.
In May 2000, everything fell apart for him after he was dismissed from his assistant Minister position for accusing the government of being behind his troubles.
Later, the High Court asked the government to allow Criticos to subdivide his expansive land after he sought orders to set use 6,500 acres of the land to offset a loan of Ksh 100 million.
Basil Criticos relationship with William Ruto
Criticos sold about 2,500 acres of land to President William Ruto for an undisclosed amount in 2017.
Nation reported that Ruto was financed by Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC), a parastatal under the Ministry of Agriculture to buy the land.
In an interview with Standard, the former Taita Taveta MP confirmed that he indeed sold off part of his land to Ruto who is now farming on it and raising crocodiles on it.
When pressed to state how much Ruto bought the property for, the former MP quipped; “That is our secret and I cannot tell you that.”
However, reliable estimates indicate the property could have been sold for between Ksh 1 billion to Ksh 2 billion.
Speaking in Taita Taveta in the run up to the 2022 General Elections, Ruto publicly declared that he was one of their own.
“You know I am also an elder of this area. Your former MP Basil Criticos asked me to help him offset a debt he had with AFC and then in return he subdivided for me a small portion of his land,” the then Deputy President said.
Basil Criticos court battle with National Bank
In May 2022, National Bank of Kenya (NBK) was ordered by a court to pay Criticos Ksh 2.2 billion after auctioning his sisal farm 14 years ago.
A bench of three Court of Appeal judges found that the auction of the 15,994.5 acres in Taita Taveta belonging to the former MP in September 2007 was undervalued given that there were buildings, sisal, quarry and road network on the land.
The land was sold to the Settlement Fund Trustees (SFT) to recover a loan of Ksh 20 million advanced to a company in which Mr Criticos was a director and a shareholder.
The former Taveta MP acted as a guarantor and the bank sold the land after he defaulted on repayment.
In addition to the Ksh 2.28 billion compensation, the court directed NBK to refund Criticos Ksh 35 million, which was the surplus from the sale.
The judges further faulted the bank for charging Criticos what they termed excessive interest rates, declining his offers to redeem the debt and then proceeding to sell the property at less than the amount he offered.
Basil Criticos vs jilted ex-lover
In 2019, Criticos was sued for Ksh 25 million and 100 acres of land by a former alleged lover.
Victoria Anna Hill, a woman who claims to have lived with the former MP for eight years asked the court to compel the former legislator to pay up Ksh 25 million that she claims to have loaned to the latter to expand his businesses as well as 100 acres of land that he promised her as a ‘gift’ for their eight years of cohabitation.
Hill who has been in court since 2015 burying the MP in paperwork claims that the two lived together since 2006 to 2014 when she invested heavily in the MP’s businesses.
However, Criticos dismissed the assertions claiming that the lady is an opportunist who took advantage of her position in one of his firms to set herself up for a huge payday from his multi-million business empire.
“I have never cohabited with her as common-law partners as I have been happily married to Barbara Kirwan Criticos for 18 years. I do not understand the basis of her claims as I only contracted her as an interior decorator at my property known as Grogan’s Castle,” Criticos says in his suit.
Criticos in his counter-argument accuses Ms Hill of breaking into his property and making away with valuables worth Ksh 23 million while he was away in the United States.
The counter argument by Criticos was quickly rubbished by Hill who said that she did not to break into his property since they lived together and she did not need to break in as she had the keys and could access all parts of the premises.
Hill also wants the court to compel the former MP to return all the household items she used to furnish their home including furniture, artifacts, beddings and kitchen utensils.
She further swore to the court that they started cohabiting in 2006 after falling in love, adding that she started lending the MP some money after he promised to refund her once he sold some of his properties.
Hill further says that she loaned the former MP Ksh 11.8 million during the period that they were together which he acknowledged and promised to repay before their relationship became untenable in August 2014.
Kenya Trade Network Agency
Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) is a State Corporation under the National Treasury established in January 2011.
The agency was set up to establish, implement and manage the National Electronic Single Window System (KenyaTradeNet System) and to facilitate trade.
Kenya TradeNet System is an online platform that serves as a single entry point for parties involved in international trade and transport logistics to lodge documents electronically, for processing, approvals and to make payments electronically for fees, levies, duties and taxes due to the Government, on goods imported or exported in the country
Functions
- Implement policies relating to the National Electronic Single Window System (Kenya TradeNet System)
- Integrate electronic systems of public and private entities involved in receipting, processing and approving documents relating to international trade transactions
- Develop, manage, and promote interchange of electronic data for facilitation of trade
- Undertake and co-ordinate research and surveys in electronic commerce aimed at simplifying and harmonizing trade documentation
- Maintain an electronic database of all imported and exported goods and services and the levies, fees, duties and taxes charged on imported or exported goods and services;
- Collect trade statistics
- Plan, develop, monitor and evaluate training programmes for all stakeholders to ensure conformity with international best practices
- Perform such other functions related to trade facilitation