Directors of alcohol firms in case of tax evasion grant a bond of Sh11m each

Three directors of a beverage and alcohol company on Friday denied tax evasion charges.

Appearing before Chief Judge Francis Andayi at the Milimani courts of law in Nairobi, the directors of the African spirits company were accused of not sending Sh36.5 billion to the Kenyan Tax Authority.

The three, Mr. Kepha Githinji Gakure, Mr. Robert Thinji Murithi and Mr. Peter Njenga Kuria were released on bail of $ 11 million each after defense attorneys Ben Nzakyo, Edward Oonge, Rubeen Dar and Cecil Miller They urge the court to do so. The case will be mentioned on September 5, 2019.

TAX EVASION

Mr. Andayi ordered billionaire Humphrey Kariuki Ndegwa, who is on a business trip abroad, and five others to appear in court on August 19 to testify on tax evasion and fraud charges filed by the Director of Public Ministry (DPP).

Both Oonge and Nzakyo said bail amounts will be challenged when the case is heard.


"The ASL and Wow Beverages Limited factories were closed by agents of the KRA and the Criminal Investigations Department on January 31, 2019," said Mr. Oonge.

Mr. Nzakyo opposed the DPP bail requirement that all defendants cannot visit the ASL and Wow factories.

UNEMPLOYED

"I urge this court to release suspects on reasonable bail, as they are unemployed," Nzakyo told the court.

Ms. Dar said that all defendants have been visiting the DCI offices to record statements for the past seven months.



She urged the magistrate to admit the suspects on bail in two of the three cases brought against them by the DPP.

"The suspects are not a risk of escape and will attend court when necessary," Ms. Dar and Mr. Miller urged the court.

The state prosecutor did not oppose the bail statements, but urged the court to establish strict terms given the amounts involved.

He urged the court to order suspects to deposit their travel documents with the court.

He said the penalty attracted by crimes is three years in jail or a fine three times the value of the property subject to rights.

NATIONAL TAX

Mr. Ndegwa and the other seven are accused of not deliberately paying a Sh17,782,553,085 tax to the national tax commissioner between February 1, 2016 and December 3, 2018.

They faced six counts of fraud. They also face two charges of being in possession of 80 drums of ethanol valued at Sh7,402,958 whose duty they never paid.

They have also been accused of being in possession of 529,980 assorted alcoholic beverages packed in 17,666 cardboard boxes with counterfeit special tax stamps in Thika in Kiambu County on January 30, 2018.

Andayi heard that Judge Luka Kimaru had banned the DCI, DPP and the Inspector General of Police from arresting and accusing Geoffrey Kaaria Kinoti Mbobua for tax evasion.