Keroche Breweries Limited owner Tabitha Karanja and her husband have accused the Director of Public Prosecution of delaying their Sh14 million tax fraud case by withholding evidence.
Mrs Karanja and her husband Joseph through lawyer James Orengo protested the delay in supplying the documents to kick-start their trial, arguing that he does not understand why the DPP arrested the couple if they were not ready with the case.
“Police arrested them with a lot of drama but are now slowing the case by not supplying the documents. This was supposed to be a day of pre-trial which would ensure the case proceeds not only expeditiously but also fairly but the DPP is delaying us,” said Orengo.
According to Orengo, the DPP had not given any reason for failure to comply with the directive to supply the documents, adding that the drama that accompanied the arrest of the couple should be replicated through a speedy trial to prove their innocence.
Miscommunication
State prosecutor Catherine Mwaniki stated that they had brought the documents but apologised for not supplying the accused in time.
Mwaniki told the court that there was a miscommunication as the DPP’s office thought the documents would be picked on Monday.
Tabitha and her husband were charged with 10 counts of tax evasion between 2015 and June this year.
According to the prosecution, the couple unlawfully made incorrect statements of their excise duty returns between February 2015 and January 2016, which in turn reduced their company’s tax liability by Sh1.8 billion.
They also faced a second count of making incorrect excise tax for February 2016 and January 2017, amounting to Sh3.1 billion.
On the third count, the prosecution alleged that between February 2017 and January 2018, the brewer’s excise duty books were incorrect to the tune of Sh3.6 billion.
Other charges indicated that they filed to pay various taxes on their produced brands totalling Sh7 billion. The two are out on bond of Sh10 million for Tabitha and Sh2 million for Karanja.
