- She is also facing Sh2.2 billion tax evaston charges.
- She surrendered the weapon on December 15 after a demand was sent to her
Image: ENOS TECHE
Already facing a Sh2.2 billion tax evasion charge, billionaire Mary Wambui is expected to be charged with illegal gun possession.
The decision was made when she surrendered her pistol after police informed her possession was illegal because the licence had expired.
The team handling her case said they plan to ask the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge Wambui with illegal possession of a firearm.
Wambui surrendered her firearm to police on December 15, a day after the Firearms Licensing Board said she held the weapon illegally.
She drove to Runda police station in Nairobi and handed over the CZ75 Compact and asked authorities there to forward it to the board.
She told police she wanted to renew her expired firearms license but when she visited the board offices in Industrial Area she found it closed over Covid-19 restritions. She then travelled out of the country and could not renew the license as required. It expired on April 17, 2020.
Wambui left the weapon at the station with what she said were an unknown number of bullets, saying she feared moving with it to the board offices.
It is an offence under Section 11(4) of the Firearms Act CAP 114 of Kenya to fail to comply with a demand to surrender the weapon.
The officers said the Kenya Revenue Authority and Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers visited Weston Hotel room B302 on December 8 where Wambui was said to have been hiding.
Her hiding followed a directive by the court. Officers found a black handbag left behind with personal identification documents and cash money.
“In the process of preparing an inventory we came across a firearm licensing certificate number… issued to you by the Firearms Licensing Board. The said license expired on 17/04/2020. ...By implication, you are illegally processing the firearm,” the letter read.
The CZ75 pistol is a semiautomatic weapon, common handgun.
Wambui i accused of evading tax totakling Sh2.2 billion, On December 6, she was released on Sh25 million cash bail. Her co-accused, Purity Njoki Mungai, was also released on the same terms.
The two presented themselves before Anti-Corruption Magistrate Felix Kombo after escaping a police dragnet at Weston Hotel.
An arrest warrant had been issued against the two for failing to honour summonses by the Kenya Revenue Authority. The two are directors of Purma Holdings Ltd, which is listed as the first accused.
The magistrate directed that they deposit their travel documents, including a temporary permit for the Republic of Zambia belonging to Wambui.
The accused persons are facing eight counts related to failure to pay taxes amounting to Sh2.2 billion that should have been paid through their company, Purma. The charges involve state tenders.
Officials said they are investigating claims the accused were admitted in hospital, which they said made it impossible for them to honour the summonses.
If found guilty of the tax offence, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh10 million or double the tax evaded, whichever is higher. Alternatively, they face a prison term not exceeding 10 years, or both.
For the offences of filing to submit a tax return and failure to pay tax, the penalty is a fine not exceeding Sh1 million and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years.
KRA had said the two women escaped from their hotel rooms a few minutes before the police and KRA officers arrived to arrest them.
(Edited by V. Graham)