Advertise

Advertise

Sh41bn tax evasion case lifts the lid on the city's hidden commercial life of the billionaire

Humphrey Kariuki
The fortunes of the lone billionaire Humphrey Kariuki were never supposed to slide in this way, but they have done it, or rather, they will.

With Mr. George Kinoti, the abrasive Director of Criminal Investigations breathing in his neck, and an international arrest warrant on him as the Damocles Sword, Mr. Kariuki is certainly going through a bad time after the Director of the Public Ministry, Mr. Noordin Haji, ordered his arrest.

EXCITED SEALS

His alleged crime along with eight others: Tax evasion and fraud for more than Sh41 billion by Africa Spirits and WoW Beverages in Thika.

Nearby assistants say the tycoon, who also has a Cypriot passport number K0627485, is out of the country; which means that if you don't return voluntarily, you may have to live as a fugitive.

When the police raided Thika-based African spirits, which have since been secured as a crime scene, on the night of January 31, 2019, they came across a finding that surprised them. There were 21 million fake tax stamps from the Kenya Revenue Authority that were disguised as water labels and that KRA officials estimated at a loss of Sh6 billion if they had gone on the market.


When the problem arose, London-based Kariuki lawyers clarified that the tycoon was not involved in the daily operation of the brewery, but was a "risk investor" who did not hold management or management positions in the company.



That never ended the problem. It all started in January 2019 when police followed a truck carrying illicit ethanol to the city of Thika in hopes of seeing the final destination. The police had information that the ethanol drums were hidden under sacks of corn, which had hidden the burden when passing through the Uganda border.

In a raid led by Mr. Kinoti, police not only discovered fake KRA seals at the factory, but also a series of pipes, an incredible engineering skill that avoided the flow meters set by KRA to determine the amount of alcohol produced and for fiscal purposes. What this meant was that KRA had no way of knowing how much alcohol was produced in the company, since the company also had false seals in its custody. But to keep the lie, they usually ordered some genuine KRA seals and allowed the KRA meters to flow. And for that, the owners of Africa Spirits will have to fight a legal battle to recover the multi-million dollar factory and this will be an uphill task. The Special Tax Law of 2015, which was amended last year, now allows KRA to seize the factory and the assets found within the premises where a tax offense has occurred.

ILLICIT LIQUOR

When I met Mr. Kinoti at some point, he said the same thing: "The factory is a crime scene and will be confiscated by the State." And before becoming the KRA general commissioner, James Mburu, one of the main KRA officials involved in the raid had also told me that “the law is very clear. If you get caught with fake stamps and once we legally verify that a law has been violated, Section 31 of the 2018 Finance Law gives us powers to confiscate the plant and products. "

And that's where this "risk investor" had put his money and spirit. Before it closed, African Spirits was one of the largest alcohol manufacturing plants in East Africa and, ironically, it has been one of the noisiest in the fight against counterfeiting and illicit liquor. And with that, there was no better camouflage.



For six months, detectives had been reviewing the books to determine how much Africa Spirits and WoW Beverages had apparently cheated the tax collector.

The other mystery is how the KRA stamps that were

No comments

Translate