Three Chinese nationals were on Friday charged with evasion of over Sh9 million shillings in taxes.
Li Hua, Ning Pi and Hu Bin were accused that as directors of Electronic Tools Kenya limited, together with others who were not before the court, knowingly made an incorrect statement to wit value added tax returns by purporting to have purchased goods from various suppliers all amounting to Sh58,960,259.
The amount affected their liability to tax by reducing the value-added tax by Sh9.4 million for the year 2017.
They allegedly committed the offence on June 30, 2017 in Nairobi.
They were further charged with failing to submit income returns to the commissioner of domestic taxes for the year of income 2015, 2016 and 2017 as required under the Income Tax Act.
The prosecution argued that the accused be denied bond as they are foreigners and were a flight risk.
They, however, opposed the application stating that they have been in the country for a long time and cannot abscond court.
Chief magistrate Heston Nyaga released them on a cash bail of Sh1 million or a bond of Sh3million each.
The magistrate further ordered they deposit their passports in court before paying the bail or bond.
“A departure prohibition order is to be issued to travel agents and the investigating officer to notify immigration office and China Embassy about the accused persons passports”, the magistrate ruled.
The case will be heard on June 12.
In the same court, the three were pardoned by court on charges of assault and malicious damage to the arresting officers.
The officers withdrew the charges by forgiving them.
In the charge sheet, the suspects were accused of assaulting officer Lydia Chebasis with intent to resist arrest and destroyed a certificate of appointment of officer Vincent Koech.
