Senior State counsel Catherine Mwaniki on Monday failed to appear in court for the pretrial mention against Keroche Breweries Limited owners Joseph and Tabitha Karanja over alleged Ksh14 billion tax evasion.
Mwaniki, who represents Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had been previously ordered to supply the defence with witness statements and other documents to be used in the case.
However, lawyers representing Mr and Mrs Karanja James Orengo and Kioko Kilukumi said that the prosecution was yet to comply with the order, preventing the court from proceeding with the case.
Senior Magistrate Bernard Ochoi directed that the matter be mentioned on September 24 for pre-trial.
Read: How DPP Tried To Cook Numbers One Day Before Arresting Keroche CEOs
Tabitha and Karanja were released on Ksh10 million and Ksh2 million respectively cash bail on August 23, following a dramatic arrest of the two by the DPP.
Initially, the DPP fumbled with numbers even as he hastened their arrest, a day after receiving their file from the Kenya Revenue Authority.
A day before raiding Keroche Breweries, the DPP posted on its social media pages announcing its intention to charge Tabitha and Joseph Karanja over tax evasion amounting to Ksh12.3 billion for VAT plus Ksh2.1 billion as excise duty, totaling to Ksh14.4 Billion.
Read: Media Stops Live Coverage Of Keroche Case, Orders From Above Suspected
A VAT charge of Ksh12.3 billion suggests Keroche Breweries had a turnover of Ksh76 billion. A day later in court, the numbers presented by the prosecution were inverted as VAT claim was changed to Ksh2.1 Billion while the excise duty claim went up to Ksh12.3 billion.
Following Kahawa Tungu‘s independent investigation, it emerged that the director of public prosecution Noordin Haji took only a day to peruse through the file presented to him by the KRA, and then proceeded to announce prosecution in the second day.
The arrests are thought to have been instigated by competitors, who have now left and left and left the DPP hanging unable to sustain a case he rushed to file.
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