The Kenya Pipeline Company has appointed Pius Mwendwa as acting Managing Director following the arrest of its boss, Joe Sang.
In a statement released on Friday evening, board chair Faith Boinett said Mwendwa, who is the General Manager in charge of finance, will take over the role for now to ensure operations continue as usual.
The company said its activities have not been affected and everything is running normally despite the changes at the top.
KPC also said it is following up on the matter involving Sang and is in touch with the relevant authorities to understand what is going on.
Sang’s arrest is linked to ongoing investigations into claims of substandard fuel entering the market.
The inquiry is also reported to have led to the arrest of other top officials, such as Mohamed Liban, the Principal Secretary of the Petroleum Department, and Daniel Kiptoo.
It is reported that the investigators from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations are probing how the fuel was acquired and if all the procedures were adhered to.
The authorities are also investigating if there was any form of collusion in the chain of supplies, allowing the fuel into the country.
At the moment, no full information regarding the scandal has been released to the public.
The arrests have happened amid claims by motorists concerning the poor quality of fuel, which they say causes engine malfunction.
Despite the criticism, the government says that Kenya still has enough reserves of the fuel in stock, with more consignments en route.
According to the government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, the latest consignment of the month has already arrived, and Kenyans should expect stable fuel prices until April.
