Billionaire Humphrey Kariuki, who is facing Sh41 billion tax evasion-related charges was yesterday freed on Sh11 million bail.
The prosecution had applied to have him detained pending verification of his Kenyan and European Union passports to determine whether he should be released on bail.
The state had also said they were seeking to involve Interpol in reaching the decision on the passports.
Milimani chief magistrate Francis Andayi ruled, “It would be discriminatory to detain one suspect as the other six facing similar charges are released on bail.”
He directed Kariuki to deposit his passport in court and appear before the DCI within six hours of meeting the bail terms.
The charges preferred against him in one file include forgery, money laundering and tax evasion.
In another file, he is accused alongside others with being in possession of uncustomed goods. The goods are 80 drums of ethanol each of 250 litres.
He and his co-accused are charged with being in possession of counterfeit excise duty stamps and possession of excisable goods affixed with counterfeit excise stamps.
Kariuki had told the court through his lawyer that he had learnt of summons through the print and electronic media.
He said there had been no warrant of arrest against him and that he voluntarily appeared in court.
“My client (Kariuki) flew in last evening so that he could appear in court and take plea today,” the defence submitted.
Last week, three employees of African Spirits Company which is indirectly associated with him were also freed of Sh11 million bail each.
The defence pleaded for lenient bail and bond terms. The court was told that Kariuki is not a direct investor at Africa Spirits Limited but an investor through a corporate body.
The case will be mentioned on September 5.
