A question mark hangs over the identity of self-proclaimed Aids doctor Basil Wainwright after the British High Commission recently challenged the validity of his travel documents.

The High Commission last week expressed dissatisfaction over the explanation given by Mr Wainwright – commonly known as Dr Stone – when he demanded that the mission should confirm his identity with some television personalities or the American Embassy before renewing his passport.

In documents made available to the Nation, the High Commission said it was concerned about Mr Wainwright's identity and the absence of exit stamps for three trips he made out of Kenya on the passport he was renewing.

The First Secretary in charge of Consular Affairs, D.C. Levoir, would not divulge any information about Mr Wainwright, saying it was against consular confidentiality.

News of the fresh challenge to the controversial physicist's reputation comes a day after Medical Services Minister Amukowa Anangwe warned that he risked jail or deportation for fraud. Dr Anangwe accused of using his "polyatomic apheresis'' treatment to con people out of millions of shillings.

As the government issued its threat, the physicist's alleged involvement with the Kenya Armed Forces – which he has been using to protect himself from debtors – has started to unravel. Investigations by the Nation revealed that Mr Wainright and his Polyatomic Apheresis Research Limited owe merchants, companies and even individuals millions of shillings worth of goods and services.

Documents in the Nation's possession reveal that Mr Wainwright, who came to Kenya five years ago, was issued with two passports bearing different names. The two passports also indicate that the holder was born in different parts of the United Kingdom.

In the passport he used to enter Kenya, and which was issued in the UK, Mr Wainwright is said to be a native of Birmingham, born in 1936.

This passport gives his name as Roderick Edward Stone.

In the other passport, issued by the British High Commission in Nairobi, his name is given as Basil Earle Wainwright, born in Swindon in 1933. This is the passport that expired in March this year and which he has now presented for renewal.

Correspondence from the British High Commission queries Mr Wainwright's explanation on why this passport bears no exit stamps on the three occasions when he left the country for Russia, Germany and another European country. According to the letter, Mr Wainwright's explanation that he was escorted directly to the plane by Kenya Armed Forces personnel on the three occasions he left the country is invalid.

"It is our understanding that even when this courtesy is extended to VIPs, military visitors, etc., their passports are normally taken to be stamped prior to departure. Your expired passport bears no such exit stamps," the letter says.

Department of Defence spokesman Bogita Ongeri said the military has never provided Mr Wainwright with an escort or had any dealings with him. Mr Wainwright claimed the alternative identity – for Roderick Edward Stone – was provided by the British Secret Service, MI5, in an effort to get him away from the United States, where six attempts to kill him were allegedly made.

Mr Wainwright said he surrendered the alternative passport to the British High Commission in Toronto, where it had been issued. Mr Wainwright says he had no connection with the military, but that he was an adviser to the military's HIV/Aids campaign.

The physicist's tenuous connection to the Forces surfaces once again in a letter written by a Major Caleb M.O. Gwambo. In the July 17, 2000 letter, Ref. No. AFSSA1001/ADMIN, addressed generally, Maj Gwambo says the physicist's Arboretum Drive residence was under the protection of the Department of Defence.

The property, No. 4 Arboretum Drive, belongs to Major-General Peter Waweru and his wife. Maj-Gen Waweru has said, however, that the house was not under the protection of the Department of Defence.

"There is a private security firm on the property I am paying for. The property was only under protection from the DoD when I was living there!" he clarified.

Maj Gwambo, who is described as a member of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy based at the Forces Memorial Hospital, was unavailable for comment and was reportedly away from his office on official assignment.

Documents in the Nation's possession also show that Maj Gwambo has been acting as a liaison between Mr Wainwright and people who have eventually lent the physicist money. In one such instance, Maj Guambo is alleged to have introduced Mr Wainwright to a Congolese national, Mr Dhekana Kodjo, and borrowerd $15,000 (Sh1.125 million) on the promise that he would repay the money within a month, with a $5,000 (Sh375,000) commission.

The money has been outstanding since December last year. Despite Mr Dhekhana strenous efforts to have Mr Wainwright, his Canadian associate (Dr Jovanovic) repay the debt have failed. "We have reached the end of our patience and will pursue the matter through other channels," Ms Jackie Aoko, a spokesman of Mr Kodjo told the Nation.

Yesterday, Mr Wainwright denied allegations that he and his company may have defrauded individuals and companies of millions of shillings. Mr Wainwright is, according to US Embassy sources, a fugitive from justice after he violated his parole.

Mr Wainwright was jailed for four years in Florida for running an unlicensed medical practice and selling bogus equipment. The US authorities estimate that by the time they arrested him, Mr Wainwright had made up to $1 million from the hoax.

Seven years earlier, Mr Wainwright had received a three-year sentence for defrauding Mr Noel Edmonds, a BBC TV talk-show host, of £70,000 (over Sh7 million) on promises that he would deliver a speed-boat engine to him.