The Standard Group yesterday wrote to the Commissioner of Police expressing fears that attempts could be made to manipulate the contents of the files in computers confiscated from its premises on Wednesday night.
But no sooner had the letter been dispatched than Internal Security Minister John Michuki alleged that the Group was involved in subversive activities.
He told a news conference late in the evening that the Government had no regrets over the invasion of the Standard Group’s twin premises, crippling KTN and the printing press in the process.
Michuki said the raid on the Standard offices was legal and that data in the computers police took away contained material detrimental to state security.
The Standard Group’s letter to Major General Hussein demanded that police provide an inventory and identification of the items taken away from the Standard Group’s Central Business District (CBD) and Likoni Road offices.
The letter also asked the Commissioner to confirm the location and security of the confiscated items, procedure used in their identification and the identity of the police officers who raided the offices.
The letter pointed out that the items seized from the Standard offices were taken away without officers of the Group verifying what they were and "were not in a position to confirm their identity and content."
The fears of the Group were heightened by a statement issued by police on Thursday, which alleged that they had raided Standard offices "to collect evidence of an intended act whose perpetuation would have posed a major threat to national security."
The statement said police had evidence which pointed to "an intention of inciting ethnic hatred and animosity leading to a breach of the peace."
Earlier yesterday there were reports which indicated that the Government was planning to manipulate data in the computers taken away from the Standard offices to implicate the Group in illegal activities.
Yesterday Michuki held lengthy meetings with other senior Government officials to chart the way forward to counter negative publicity brought about by the raid on the Standard offices.
At his news conference Michuki said police were still studying the Standard Group’s files and asked Ali to expedite investigations and take necessary action.
Michuki met the senior Government officials as the President’s Advisor on Strategy and Policy Analysis Stanley Murage denied involvement in the plot against the Standard.
In an unsigned statement Murage said he neither attended a meeting reportedly held at a Nairobi hotel to plot the raid nor was he part of the group that arranged it.
A senior police officer was yesterday seen carrying some of the computer parts confiscated from the Standard offices to Government offices at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
The officer, who was in the company of a tall light-skinned man who led the raid on the I&M, and two other heavily built men went to the offices at about 3.30pm.
The light-skinned man who was also flanked by a short middle-aged woman of the same descent drove into the KICC in a white Peugeot whose number plates we have.
