• Reports indicate that the business magnate was being allowed to quietly slip out the evidence, including counterfeit excise stamps, from his Thika-based Africa Spirits Limited and WOW Beverages.
• But Thika subcounty police boss Beatrice Kiraguri on Friday denied the claims, saying she has not heard of such reports and the facility is well-protected by police.
Image: JOHN KAMAU
Police in Thika have denied allegations that incriminating evidence against a firm associated with tycoon Humphrey Kariuki has been sneaked out of the company.
Reports indicate that the business magnate was being allowed to quietly slip out the evidence, including counterfeit excise stamps, from his Thika-based Africa Spirits Limited and WOW Beverages. The evidence is in relation to the Sh41 billion tax evasion case he is facing.
Kariuki has been charged with Sh41 billion tax evasion. He denied wrongdoing and was released on Sh15 million bail.
Three directors of the Africa Spirits Company were also charged with tax evasion. Kepha Githinji Gakure, Robert Thinji Murithi and Peter Njenga Kuria were accused of failing to remit Sh36.5 billion to the Kenya Revenue Authority. They denied the charges and were each released on Sh11 million bail.
The company was closed down in January 2019, marked as a scene-of-crime and put under 24-hour police protection. This followed a week-long operation led by former Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, DCI George Kinoti, Flying Squad boss Musa Yego and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Director General Githii Mburu.
On Friday, Thika subcounty police boss Beatrice Kiraguri denied claims that some items were being ferried out of the premises, saying she had not heard of such reports and the facility was well-protected by police.
Kiraguri, who spoke to the Star on the phone, said the allegations were untrue since no one but the police manning the facility was allowed inside the factory.
“Nobody, except the police guarding the facility, is allowed to get inside the firm. Claims that there are items being ferried from the firm are untrue,” she said.
The management of the firm in January this year accused the police of theft at the factory. They claimed that the police have been stealing alcoholic beverages, raw material for the manufacturing of liquor, machinery and vehicle parts.
A director of the company, who declined to be named, had then said they were concerned about the rate of theft in the factory.
“Being a crime scene, it is quite difficult to quantify the value of the property that has so far been stolen. Since the police took over the premises, they are the ones who have been camping there and so if anything goes missing they should be held responsible," he said.
He claimed that among other things, they had lost the spirit used to manufacture alcohol, TV sets and gas cylinders.
The official had also alleged that they had evidence showing that police had been stealing from the company and called on their superiors to investigate the matter and ensure appropriate action was taken on those who would be found culpable.
In January, Kiraguri said she was not aware of the claims against the police officers as she was away on leave at the time the items were said to have been stolen.
Her then deputy Bernard Ayoo, however, had said the matter had not yet been reported to the police, so they could investigate.
“I wonder how the company management has come to know that there are some things that have been stolen since no one is allowed access to the premises apart from the police,” Ayoo said in January.
Still in January this year, a police officer and a university student were arraigned in Thika for breaking into the factory and stealing assorted wines and spirits worth Sh3 million.
Constable Anastacia Wairimu and Ben Kamau Kamande, a Kenyatta University student, were arrested on January 4 at a police roadblock in Makongeni area of Thika while ferrying 11 cartons of Furaha brand suspected to have been stolen from the factory.
The two, who appeared before Thika senior magistrate Oscar Wanyaga, were also accused of knowingly removing assorted brands of wine and spirits required as evidence at Milimani court with intent to prevent them being used as evidence.
The two, who were represented by Thika-based lawyer Ismael Nguringa, denied the charges.
Wanyaga released them on Sh1.5 million bond with a surety of a similar amount or Sh500,000 bail each.
On August 31, 2019, an Administration Police officer who was allegedly drunk on duty died at the facility. Police, however, denied that he was drunk and only indicated that he tripped on the stairs and was pronounced dead on arrival at Thika Level V Hospital.
Raid
On January 31, 2019, police raided Africa Spirits Company and confiscated 22,000 litres of ethanol suspected to be from Tanzania that was stored in 80 drums.
KRA said they are investigating how the ethanol came into the country and warned that any government officials who could have aided the smuggling would face the law.
An estimated 21 million counterfeit excise stamps and 312,000 litres of illicit products valued at Sh1.2 billion tax were seized during the raid.
Established in 2004, Africa Spirits Limited has brands of Brandy, Gin and Vodka.
Some of their products are Legend Gold Brandy, Blue Moon Vodka, Blue Moon Vodka flavours (Apple, Mango and Ginger), Gypsy King Gin and the Furaha Range, among others.
Edited by A.N