Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala was scheduled to appear before anti-graft agency detectives on Monday to record a statement.
However, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said Mr Balala had asked to be given an alternative date as he had several out-of-town engagements this week.
“CS Balala wrote last week to request the commission to reschedule his appearance as he was engaged in various official activities this week. He provided a diary,” EACC spokesman Yasin Amaro said.
The minister was in Kisumu for a tourism event yesterday.
Mr Yasin said that the commission would write back to Balala and give him a fresh date to face the investigators, with a source at the commission saying the new date would not be later than Thursday.
Balala is required to answer questions over Sh100 million payments made during the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) Destination Expo that was held in Nairobi in 2017.
Former Tourism Principal Secretary Fatuma Hirsi and senior ministry staff have already recorded their statements before the commission.
The EACC was interested in Balala after documents revealed that he was in constant communication with the ASTA-Kenya chapter.
The commission wants to understand under what circumstances Balala spent public money, yet he was not the ministry’s accounting officer. The agency also wants an explanation whether the expo was hosted for one or three days.
On September 23, 2016, Balala wrote to the president of ASTA Kenya, Samson Some, informing him of the Sh100 million sponsorship to organise a tourism expo the following year.
“We are aware that your organisation, ASTA Kenya Chapter, has successfully won the bid to host ADE 2017 in February in Nairobi, Kenya. The Ministry of Tourism supports this initiative and commits to a sponsorship of one hundred million (Sh100 million),” Balala’s letter reads.
Investigators are also targeting procurement processes to find out whether the contract was issued competitively.
The commission further wants organisers to provide a breakdown of how, and to whom, the Sh100 million was paid. Sources in the investigation said EACC specifically wanted to find out how Sh27 million withdrawn in cash was spent.